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COOPERATION
ACROSS THE
SUPPLY
CHAIN

CONNECTED COOPERATION ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN

“We argue over the ‘best’ sustainability solution: renewables, carbon markets, blue fuel or green. The reality is we need them all – because only a mix of solutions can avoid what Bill Gates calls a ‘global climate catastrophe’. This means companies must collaborate – and how the partnerships work will be key.”

Helge Sachs, Senior Vice President, Sasol ecoFT

Helge 260x260-1

Key Take-Aways

  1. Expect big energy players to remain – but no single one dominating
  2. A diverse mix of technologies, processes, and models collaborating for gain
  3. A ramp-up of renewable energy like solar and wind, giving “green” SAF a helping hand
  4. Divergence in approach between the EU and USA – and perhaps in success, too
  5. Fast-growing markets like China and India also mandating SAF and low-carbon fuels

So, the market is moving fast – but incentives for innovation differ across the Atlantic, meaning the map SAF development may look very different. Whatever big picture emerges, Helge expects Sasol ecoFT to be leading the way.

Read the Full Interview

Helge Sachs is a trained aeronautical engineer with previous experience at Lufthansa and Airbus. As Senior Vice President of Sasol ecoFT, he’s putting the chemical giant’s experience with the Fischer-Tropsch process at the heart of sustainable aviation – producing SAF from power-to-liquids technology using “green” hydrogen (itself from renewable power) and carbon (from biomass, municipal solid waste, and industrial CO2).

But the diversity of feedstocks – and the difficulties in collecting them – create challenges all the way to 2050 and beyond, meaning it’s unlikely the SAF story will be monopolized by vertically integrated end-to-end players. Here’s why Helge believes an ecosystem of collaboration will be key to SAF's success.

SAF IS ALREADY IN PLAY
SAF isn’t a new technology; the first synthetically fueled flight took off in 1998, and to date over 500,000 flights have been made with some blend of SAF. If you’ve flown from Johannesburg in the last ten years, there’s been SPK in your tank. 250 airlines, mostly in the USA, have SAF on their strategy sheets; refineries are being repurposed for SAF. And plants are being built to capture CO2 from the air as feedstock, with the prospect of 130 million-tonne-capacity plants in play by 2050.

0 million-tonne-capacity
plants in play by 2050

But human activity releases 50bn tonnes of CO2eqs per year – meaning air capture alone won’t dent the damage. And while collectable feedstocks may reach 20m tonnes annually by 2030, global consumption of jet fuel is a third of a billion tonnes. What’s more, in the two mega-markets driving SAF adoption, the EU and the USA, differences of culture and approach abound.

The EU approach is to mandate, with targets for SAF blend percentages in the years ahead but constrained by limits like “Food versus Fuel”. (In a nutshell: if you can eat it, SAF can’t use it.) The USA, by contrast, is enjoying a boost from the Inflation Reduction Act – which promises USD 369bn in new and expanded incentives for energy efficiency, renewable and clean energy investments, and infrastructure improvements, with low-carbon-intensity feedstock and production rewarded for GHG reductions. And the USA’s established fuel-from-crops sector is ready to ramp up. So, what does the future hold?

SAF Study interview breaker 2

WEBS OF PARTNERSHIPS, WORLDWIDE
Over the next decade, Helge sees consolidation as a key trend industry-wide, with complementary technologies and processes interlocking into improved supply chains. That means collaboration between companies – in a big way. He doubts there’ll be a Google of SAF: instead, niche actors, both large and small will come together in co-operative joint ventures, acting in concert to give a louder voice to their lobbying and a greater opportunity to attract finance.

They’ll need it – one estimate gives USD 175bn a year as the investment needed simply to stay on target. This will almost certainly mean biojet and “blue” SAF (whose production processes aren’t fully sustainable) being part of the mix, despite pricey “green” SAF’s status among EU policymakers.

Helge Sachs; “Should we allow “non-green” SAF solutions? There’s really no choice. The ecosystem isexploding with activity and innovation; all solutions matter if we’re to hit Net Zero.”

WATCH THE TOPSOE SAF TALKS WHERE WE INTERVIEW VARIOUS PEOPLE FROM THE SAF VALUE CHAIN
TO HEAR THEIR THOUGHTS ON
FEEEDSTOCK SUPPLY, PATHWAYS AND TEHNOLOGIES, COLLABORATION AND MUCH MORE

WATCH SAF TALKSTM

DIVERSE SAF, DIVERSE SUPPLY
Helge’s vision for the 2030s, the midpoint between now and most countries’ Net Zero 2050 goal: a diversity of sustainable and low-carbon intensity solutions, including both non-green and green SAF blended at 10% or more. With prices down from the current 100-400% premiums over fossil JET A-1, thanks to a connected ecosystem of specialized innovators, government incentives, and investment.

0 vision from Helge is: both non-green and green SAF blended at 10% or more.

A FUTURE OF CONNECTION, COLLABORATION, AND COOPERATION
So, there you have it: a SAF future of connection, collaboration, and cooperation – between investors, innovators, and incentives. Helge’s experience with the economic and technological interplay of SAF demonstrates you can’t leave governments out of it.