Purpose and Objectives

Sustainable aviation fuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector. However, this potential remains largely untapped as such fuels currently represent only 0.05% of total jet fuel consumption. The aim of the Task is to lay the foundation for collaborative RD&D work on sustainable aviation fuels within AMF TCP. Thus, the Task will focus on identifying stakeholders and experts, assessing the national situation of the participants, and facilitating information exchange on the main challenges in taking up sustainable aviation fuels. The Task will address biofuels as well as e-fuels.

Activities

Work Package 1: Task Management

Work package 1 includes the management of the task under the leadership of Austria, as well as coordination and communication, complementarily to outreach activities in WP 5 and 6.  

• Detailing the work plan and time schedule together with the international partners.
• Organization, coordination, communication and management of the IEA AMF Task 63
• Adherence to the overall time and cost schedule and achievement of the project objectives according to the task work plan
• Coordination with the AMF Executive Committee, the funding agencies and the Austrian ExCo delegate
• Fulfilment of reporting opligations at AMF level
• Organization and holding of project meetings
• Organization of cooperation and coordination with IEA Bioenergy Task 39 and potential other TCPs (Hydrogen, Combustion)
• Recruitment of new member countries for the Task

Work Package 2: Overview of status quo

This work package contains a comprehensive description of the international status quo on sustainable aviation fuels. Based on a report outline provided by Austria, all participants will point to relevant sources of information, including initiatives for the implementation of SAF. The following topics will be addressed:

• Approved technology pathways and those in the ASTM certification process: description of certified technologies and those applying for certification, feedstocks and products, TRL, production costs and GHG emissions over the life cycle
• Production facilities: overview of facilities in operation, under construction, or planned, production capacities currently and projected, technology providers
• Application of sustainable aviation fuels: supplying airports, using airlines, announced supply agreements, announcements of supply agreements, announcements by aircraft manufacturers
• Legislation: national and EU commitments, international announcements and agreements
• Sustainable aviation fuels in the energy system: global demand, relation to other transport sectors and other energy intensive sectors, projected development

Work Package 3: National Assessments

In this WP, national assessments are carried out by the respective partners in the task member countries under the leadership of BEST. The aim of these analyses is to ascertain the concrete situation regarding sustainable aviation fuels. This includes the following aspects:

• Identification of current and potential national actors from research, industry and administration along the value chain (feedstock supply, conversion technologies, aviation fuel suppliers, aviation fuel consumers, aviation OEMs, energy providers, bioenergy research centers, academia etc.).
• Qualitative assessment of the national feedstock potential (considering competing use and trade) for the production of sustainable aviation fuels from biomass, wastes, residues and electrolysis hydrogen and comparison of production potential with demand
• Analysis of national strengths based on raw material availability, technological expertise and willingness to implement on the part of the actors involved
• Analysis of the current legal framework and announced new regulations with regard to their impact on national climate targets
• Identification of challenges and opportunities along the value chain with regard to the market introduction of sustainable aviation fuels

Work Package 4: Best practice examples

The purpose of this WP is to bring examples of successful production and application of sustainable aviation fuels before the curtain so that other stakeholders in the field (airports, airlines, kerosene providers etc.) can learn from them. As to achieve this, examples of SAF market uptakes (such as BP/Oslo, Sky-NRG/Netherlands or AIRBUS/Total Energies/Copenhagen) will be assessed and discussed within the project team. Desired speakers or organizations will be contacted by the project team.

The best practice examples will be presented through a series of three online seminars with different thematic focus (planned: Feedstocks & Conversion; Supply & Certification; Markets & Policy), where successful actors will describe, how they have implemented the production or application of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them. There will be ample time for questions from the audience on their personal challenges. The series of online seminars will be announced on social media to involve interested public.

In order to make the findings from these seminars available in the best possible way, recordings of the seminars as well as the presentations will be made available online. Furthermore, lessons and recommendations for action will be derived from the examples presented and summarized in a report. Additionally, best practice factsheets will be prepared and shared online. The speakers for the seminars will be selected jointly by all partners in the task.

Work Package 5: International Stakeholders

On the one hand, this Work Package supports the preparation of the report on the status quo (WP2) and the identification of successful market introduction examples and speakers for the online seminars (WP4) and, on the other hand, enables the AMF TCP to establish contacts with international actors in the field of sustainable aviation fuels.

Since the AMF TCP has not dealt with aviation so far, it is important to get an overview of the relevant actors. The first step is to identify internationally active stakeholders and record them in a table or database (considering GDPR regulations). In the second step, selected stakeholders that could provide useful insights will be contacted and asked to provide presentations for the online seminars (WP4).

Expected Results

• 3 online seminars
• Final report consisting of description on status quo, description on national assessments, fact sheets of best practice examples, and summary of findings of the online seminars
• Key messages and policy recommendations to foster the SAF uptake by airports, airlines and fuel providers