Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to secure Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) development in the UK.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will have a key role in driving down carbon emissions in the UK aviation sector and the Government is fully committed to accelerating its development. The UK Government’s SAF programme is already one of the most comprehensive in the world. This includes £62m of previous funding made available to support the early development of SAF revenue support under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, and the development of a SAF clearing house for fuel testing and certification. On top of this, last year the Government announced a £400m partnership with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which will allow SAF projects to apply for further capital funding.

Last week the Government announced that it will introduce a SAF mandate. By prescribing mandatory SAF use, we will generate secure and growing UK SAF demand. The SAF mandate will require at least 10% (c1.5bn litres) of fuel to be made from sustainable sources from 2030.

Alongside this announcement, the Government launched the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund to drive our new commitment to have at least five commercial SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025. Building on the success of the previous competitions, the grant funding will support projects looking to develop large scale advanced fuel production facilities in the UK.

The Government also continues to work in partnership with industry and investors to build long term supply. We’re actively looking at how to create the long-term conditions for investable projects in the UK, by demonstrating technology that works at scale, ensuring demand via the mandate, looking at an overarching strategy for sustainable feedstocks and sources and considering what further measures might be needed, from both industry and government.