Back British SAF

That's Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Image of a soaring plane I Back British SAF

What is SAF?

SAF is a type of low-carbon fuel that can be made from a range of sustainable materials, including household waste, used cooking oil, agricultural and forestry waste. It can be used as an alternative to traditional jet fuel.

Why SAF Matters

Britain’s aviation sector is world-leading.

It directly supports 536,000 jobs across the country with 1 in 4 UK parliamentary constituencies employing more than 1,000 residents in the industry. It contributes £22 billion to our GDP each year, with 40% of UK imports and exports by value travelling by air. It connects businesses to global markets, passengers to loved ones and holidaymakers to new destinations. All while providing a significant benefit to the UK economy. But to protect and grow these benefits and safeguard its long-term future, the sector must get to net zero. And it cannot do so without SAF. SAF is currently the only solution for medium and long-haul flights and cuts lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 70%.

SAF can be made from household waste and other feedstocks and it can be used in planes now without any major changes needed to the engines. Making SAF domestically will create thousands of jobs across the country, boost Britain’s growth and help keep costs down for air passengers. Without a homegrown SAF sector, Britain would have to import nine million tonnes of SAF each year, at an annual cost to the taxpayer of £3bn, pushing up prices and putting Britain’s energy security at risk.

Image of a soaring plane

A domestic SAF industry would

Return up to £1.70 to the UK economy for every £1 invested in revenue certainty.

Boost the British economy by up to £1.8bn GVA by the end of this decade.

Create 10,300 jobs across industrial clusters from Teesside and Humberside to South Wales and the North West by 2030.

Bring £10 billion GVA to the economy by 2050 and 60,000 jobs.

Future-proof the British aviation sector, which directly employs 536,000 people.

Where would British SAF jobs be?

Our map reveals the first places in Britain set to benefit from a new SAF industry and the jobs and economic boost each will bring.

Ellesmere Port and Neston

Fulcrum is planning a £1 billion investment to turn 600,000 metric tonnes of waste into 100 million litres of SAF each year at its proposed facility in Cheshire. The site was chosen due to its industrial nature, a skilled local workforce and existing refinery infrastructure, including a direct pipeline to Manchester Airport which can be used to transport the SAF to aircraft. During construction phase, around 600 jobs will be directly supported and a further 600 indirectly in the local community. During operation, there will be around 100 jobs on site and a further 150 in the local contractor community.

Port Talbot

LanzaTech plans to build Europe's first commercial-scale alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) production facility using ethanol feedstock made from industrial waste gases and other wastes. The proposed facility is expected to produce around 100 million litres per year of fuel, create 200 jobs during its 18-month to two- year construction and employ over 150 people once in operation. Construction is due to start in 2024/25 with operation commencing in 2027/8.

Linlithgow and East Falkirk

Petroineos is evaluating the potential for low carbon fuels development at Grangemouth, including SAF. A diverse range of non-hydrocarbons feedstocks are being considered to best fit availability and the regulatory environment. Grangemouth Refinery currently supplies all of Scotland's jet fuel

Aberdeenshire

The Acorn Project at St Fergus has been named as one of the first four carbon capture clusters in the UK. The project will repurpose existing oil and gas infrastructure to capture CO2 emissions, before being converted to Power-to-Liquid SAF. It is estimated that the SAF plant could create up to 920 jobs and generate £133m in GVA per year for the economy in the north east of Scotland.

Stockton North

Alfanar has committed to a £1.5 billion investment on Teesside to produce over 175 million litres of SAF each year, bringing more than £470m GVA to the UK economy. Based at Port Clarence, they will produce SAF from waste on a large scale. They plan to begin construction in the second half of 2025 and operations in 2028. The project is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs during construction and around 240 fulltime jobs once it is fully operational, with these jobs generating £78m GVA each year for the Tees Valley once operational.

Cleethorpes

Altalto is a joint development between Velocys and British Airways. The proposed Immingham plant would convert hundreds of thousands of tonnes per year of non-recyclable household and commercial waste, otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, into SAF with negative emissions. This will save 300,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The plant will create 1,000 jobs in construction and hundreds in operation, generating GVA of £120m per year.

Northeast of England

Project Speedbird is a project between British Airways, LanzaJet and Nova Pangaea Technologies to make over 80,000 tonnes per year of SAF. The SAF will be produced by transforming agricultural and wood waste from sustainable sources using a combination of Nova Pangaea Technologies' REFNOVA process of converting agricultural and wood waste into bioethanol and biochar, and LanzaJet's ethanol-to-SAF technology which converts bioethanol to produce SAF and renewable diesel, and has recently been deployed at LanzaJet's Freedom Pines Facility in Georgia, USA.

Fawley

Esso Petroleum Company are researching the viability of SAF at their Fawley Refinery and Petrochemical complex near Southampton, having been awarded a £6m grant from the DfT's Advanced Fuels Fund. The proposed SAF plant would be an integral part of The Solent Cluster initiative. Their study will assess producing SAF using ExxonMobil's proprietary Methanol to Jet (MTJ) technology.

North Lincolnshire

The Phillips 66 Limited Humber Refinery is currently the UK's only at scale producer of SAF from Used Cooking Oil, delivering its supply via existing pipeline infrastructure that feeds directly into some of the UK's major airports.

Harwich

Firefly Green Fuels are working to commercialise a new SAF pathway using biosolids - organic matter from sewage - as a feedstock. A first-of-a-kind commercial-scale facility has been announced which will be sited in Harwich, Essex. Once operational in 2028/29, the facility will be capable of producing around 43,000 tonnes of SAF and other advanced renewable hydrocarbon fuels such as bionaphtha. This development will bring hundreds of jobs to the Southeast and will help to make Harwich a centre of excellence for renewables.

Redcar

Arcadia is developing the UK’s largest announced Power to Liquids SAF (or eSAF) project. Located in Teesside, Project Naboo will produce nearly 70,000 tonnes per year of net zero aviation fuel from renewable electricity and captured CO2. The eFuels sector has an exciting role to play in decarbonising UK aviation, shipping and heavy transport machinery, driving significant high skilled job creation, economic growth and improved energy security.

Hull

OXCCU will develop a First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) demonstration plant at Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber that will convert carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The plant will be part of the scale-up process for OXCCU to create larger scale PtL plants in the future, mainly through licensing the technology. The Saltend plant will produce 200liters/day of liquid fuel and start up in 2026.

Map of the UK

Our Asks of Government

Sustainable Aviation Fuel production is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet as all aviation and aerospace sectors race to decarbonise. The Government needs to act fast to attract investment for SAF plants or risk missing out in the global dash for SAF.

Swiftly introduce the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Certainty Mechanism) Bill into parliament.

Within this Bill, accelerate by a year to the end of 2025 (or early 2026 at the latest) the timeline for delivery of the revenue certainty mechanism (RCM) set out by the previous Government. Under current timelines, recipients of Advanced Fuels Fund grants will require bridging support. Speeding up the implementation of the RCM will therefore reduce this pressure on the public purse.

Bring forward the regulations for the revenue certainty mechanism so that recipients of grant programmes can access Guaranteed Strike Price contracts in a timely manner.

Who We Are

We are a coalition of Britain’s leading airlines, airports, manufacturers, producers and engineers who have come together to urge the UK Government to take swift action and back a British SAF industry.

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I back British SAF

The Back British SAF pledge demonstrates our belief in a new green industry that will boost jobs and growth across the UK and support our world-leading aviation sector.

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