Choosing a flight path: how investors navigate SAF pathways
Sustainable aviation fuels have eight certified technology pathways with varying investment cases. In a fast-growing market, SAF technologies are competing to attract institutional attention
In the heyday of the industrial revolution, Teesside in the Northeast of England was home to a bustling coal mining industry. Several decades later, Teesside finds itself amidst yet another industrial overhaul - the energy transition. This time, its tenants are different.
LanzaJet, a company specialising in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), is moving in. By 2027, its biorefinery in Teesside will produce over 30 million gallons of SAF each year. British Airways, a founding investor in LanzaJet, has committed to purchase all of it. Project Speedbird, they call it.
The project, which was awarded £10m by the UK government’s Advanced Fuel Fund, speaks to the widening investor appeal of SAF – and the infrastructure linked with its production, transport and consumption.
LanzaJet’s technology is one of many options on the table. Its ethanol-to-jet offering sits alongside a suite of technology pathways that vary based on commercial maturity, capital intensity and infrastructure requirements.
SAF is a multiple choice investment proposition. In a market that is now cleared for take-off, here’s how investors are navigating the SAF technology terrain.
