The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is encouraging the International Energy Agency (IEA) to prioritize sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) investment as a means of aiding the industry’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.
“The enormous amounts of money that governments are investing in the economic recovery from COVID-19 are an opportunity to create a legacy of energy transition for the aviation industry,” IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. “To achieve this, governments, the finance community, and the fuel producers—both large and small—must work together with the goal of rapidly increasing production of affordable, sustainable aviation fuel.”
IATA’s advocacy stems from the upcoming IEA Clean Energy Transitions Summit, a virtual undertaking in which officials anticipate debate toward a low-carbon future.
The IATA maintains the IEA is placed to promote SAF production with its stakeholders both in government and in the fuel industry.
“As much as airlines want to use SAF, production is well below the scale needed for prices to fall to competitive levels,” de Juniac said. “Attaining the right price point is even more crucial as industry losses and debt levels rise. But if governments can use this unique time to combine a safe fiscal and regulatory framework supporting SAF production with the direct allocation of stimulus funds to SAF production, it is possible to reach the 2 percent tipping point in 2025. That would power greener flight, create jobs, and fuel the economic recovery together.”