Qantas to buy low-carbon jet fuel in US, but no options at home
Published Tue 15 Mar 2022
The Age
15 March 2022
Qantas has inked a deal to fill its jets with 8 million litres of low-carbon alternative jet fuel annually from airports in California as part of the airline’s efforts to reduce its planet-heating emissions
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which can be made from biomass including crops or household waste, releases up to 80 per cent less carbon compared to kerosene-based jet fuel and is the cornerstone of the airline industry’s plan to hit net-zero emissions by 2050.
Qantas says it is looking to increase its use of SAF, but can only do so at foreign airports
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce - who has been outspoken about Australia’s failure to establish domestic SAF production - will on Tuesday announce a contract to buy 8 million litres of SAF for its jets at Los Angeles’ LAX and San Francisco International airports every year starting in 2025
The contract represents only a small development in the context of Qantas’ total fuel use and carbon emissions but signals the early stages in what is projected to be an aviation-wide shift to SAF in order to tackle its hard-to-abate emissions.
The SAF, produced by US biofuels company Aemetis, will be mixed as a 40/60 blend with conventional jet fuel, just below the 50/50 maximum aviation regulators permit, with the contract covering 20 million litres of blended fuel.
Qantas said the fuel contract would lower its emissions on flights out of San Francisco by about 8 per cent, and save about 15,000 tonnes of carbon a year, which is roughly equivalent to taking 55,000 cars off the road.
In 2019, the airline used 4.9 billion litres of jet fuel and emitted 12.4 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.
Mr Joyce said his airline was looking to source more SAF for its operations, but that was only possible at overseas ports given it was not available at Australian airports or being produced locally.
“Operating our aircraft with sustainable aviation fuel is the single biggest thing we can do to directly reduce our emissions,” he said in a statement.
“The US, UK and Europe have industries that have developed with a lot of government support because this is a new field and the long-term benefits for those countries are obvious.”
Aviation accounted for about 2 per cent of the world’s emissions before the COVID-19 pandemic and about 4 per cent of Australia’s.
The California deal is the second major contract Qantas has entered to start using SAF on international flights, after agreeing in December to buy 10 million litres at Heathrow Airport this year, accounting for about 15 per cent of its expected fuel usage on flights out of London.
Expense is the biggest inhibitor to SAF uptake, currently costing two to three times conventional jet fuel, and its use worldwide is at negligible levels. But Mr Joyce said that with the right investment, the cost could come down to parity over time.
“We’d be its biggest customer,” he said. “As well as the environmental and economic benefits, a local SAF industry would reduce the nation’s dependence on imported fuels.”
“We’d be its biggest customer,” he said. “As well as the environmental and economic benefits, a local SAF industry would reduce the nation’s dependence on imported fuels.”
Critics, however, say that federal funding will not be enough to kickstart a local industry as billions of dollars are being invested in the US and Europe to get production off the ground there.
The International Air Travel Association, the airline trade body, forecasts SAF could account for 2 per cent of the global industry’s fuel use by 2025, 17 per cent by 2035 and 65 per cent by mid-century, which is crucial to hitting its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Qantas was one of the world’s first airlines to set a net-zero 2050 target and has said it will set an interim target later this month.