Project SkyPower: Actionable Steps to Drive e-SAF Growth
Largely due to regulatory targets and the urgent need to cut carbon emissions, Europe’s aviation industry faces critical deadlines to implement e-SAF plants.
With less than two years to act, the need to invest in these projects is being driven by the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ initiative as part of the Green Deal.
Aviation and government commitments to achieving net zero by 2050, high decarbonisation demands, economic and technological scaling and carbon cost and incentives are also driving change in this area.
As a result, aviation faces a hard deadline to establish the necessary infrastructure and production scale or face set backs for the border EU climate targets.
Successful development could position Europe as a global leader in sustainable aviation.
“Successful delivery of Project SkyPower's action plan will fundamentally change the e-SAF landscape, establishing the necessary conditions to take Final Investment Decisions and accelerate this critical technology towards commercial operation by 2030," says Amy Hebert, CEO of Arcadia eFuels and co-chair of Project SkyPower.
“I am proud to co-chair Project SkyPower, leveraging Arcadia eFuels’ leadership on e-SAF development with commercial-scale production facilities across Europe. With the commitment and expertise of our members from across the value chain, we are poised to deliver tangible impact."
Leading CEOs in aviation collaborate to scale up e-SAF
Bringing together high-profile CEOs from across Europe’s aviation value chain, Project SkyPower is on an urgent mission to unlock the potential of e-SAF – which modelling shows could account for the majority of SAF volumes by 2050.
Project SkyPower’s latest industry insights report that final investment decisions need to be made urgently in the industry or risk missing the regulated mandates.
Modelling from the organisation also predicts that the industry will need US$16bn to US$27bn in capital investment by 2030 and US$4bn to US$6bn annually to reach the scale required.
Decarbonising aviation is one of the tougher challenges and requires cooperative leadership to break down the silos. Partnering with governments, financial institutions and civil society is imperative to scale e-SAF to a tipping point where it not only progresses on urgent emissions reduction but also secures millions of jobs and future-proofs the aviation industry
- Creates at least 90% less GHG emissions over its lifecycle compared to fossil jet fuel
- Produced using renewable electricity, water and carbon dioxide captured directly from the air and/or via point-source capture
- Faces fewer feedstock limitations in the long term compared to alternative aviation fuels and can therefore scale towards 2050 targets
However, while two-thirds of the global e-SAF pipeline is in Europe – and despite its benefits – no plants have currently achieved a final investment decision.
What is Project SkyPower?
Led by 13 CEOs from AirFrance-KLM, Arcadia eFuels, Technip Energies, Copenhagen Airports, Velocys, easyJet, Natixis CIB, Rockton, SkyNRG, Topsoe, ING, KGAL and Victor, Project SkyPower is dedicated to collaboration in pursuit of scaling e-SAF.
The project objective is to pave the way for first-of-a-kind e-SAF plants to reach a final investment decision by the end of 2025.
The philanthropically-funded initiative is powered by the dedication and technical expertise of more than 50 companies from across the e-SAF ecosystem.
Actionable steps to drive meaningful progress
Modelling provided by Project SkyPower indicates that without government subsidies, the production cost alone in Europe could be five to eight times the price of fossil jet fuel including Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) costs.
Across the coming decades, this cost could fall by 50% through additional innovation and economies of scale, but only if investments in the first e-SAF plants are made now.
However, Europe is in a strong position to be a technology leader for e-SAF – according to Project SkyPower’s report – with its critical know-how to export innovation globally and close the cleantech innovation gap with competitors.
Scaling e-SAF technology will also have spillover benefits to other sectors including shipping, steel and fertiliser production, which rely on similar decarbonisation technologies, amplifying e-SAF's impact towards Europe’s emissions reduction targets.
With this in mind, Project SkyPower members have laid out a tangible 10-point action plan for the e-SAF ecosystem:
Before the end of the year, Project SkyPower's CEOs will convene to align on translating the analysis findings into actionable steps to drive meaningful progress forward.
“Today, our industry faces its biggest challenge yet: reducing its climate impact," says Marjan Rintel, CEO of KLM and co-chair of Project SkyPower on behalf of Air France-KLM. “e-SAF will play an important role in addressing this challenge.
"Project SkyPower is modelling the conditions required to overcome the barriers to scaling e-SAF. By working together, we now have a shared economic model for e-SAF, and an action plan to be implemented by the wider aviation ecosystem.
“It is this kind of collaboration that gives us the best chance of reducing our impact on the environment while continuing to deliver economic and social benefits."
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