Cathay Pacific has announced today the signing of an offtake agreement with Aemetis for the supply of 38 million US gallons of blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to be delivered over seven years beginning in 2025 from San Francisco International Airport.
What is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)?
The blended SAF to be supplied under this agreement is 40 per cent SAF and 60 per cent Petroleum Jet A-1 fuel to meet international blending standards. The SAF will be produced at the Aemetis Carbon Zero plant currently under development in Riverbank, California.
The facility will use waste wood to produce cellulosic hydrogen, and combine it with wastes and non-edible sustainable oils. It will then be converted into SAF using carbon-neutral hydroelectricity. It is scheduled to begin deliveries to Cathay Pacific in 2025 with the agreement being part of the joint procurement initiative for SAF by the Oneworld alliance.
Cathay says that the SAF purchased “can reduce more than 80,000 tonnes of lifecycle carbon emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by more than 1.3 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years.”
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company. Aemetis Carbon Zero products include zero-carbon fuels that can “drop in” to be used in airplane, truck, and ship fleets. Aemetis low-carbon fuels have substantially reduced carbon intensity compared to standard petroleum fossil-based fuels across their lifecycle. Aemetis has launched the Carbon Zero production process to decarbonise the transportation sector using today’s infrastructure.
Chief executive officer Augustus Tang said:
“Cathay Pacific continues to reaffirm its commitment to addressing climate change despite these challenging times. In the past few years, we have announced our carbon net-zero by 2050 target and our goal of achieving 10% use of SAF by 2030. In doing this, we have built a robust SAF procurement strategy to help meet our goals. We are pleased that this agreement with Aemetis will contribute to that effort, and we hope it will also send the right signal to the SAF industry to encourage the much-needed investment and scaling up of its supply chain.”
Aemetis Chairman and CEO Eric McAfee said:
“The use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel by Cathay Pacific is another step by the oneworld Alliance towards lowering the environmental impact of aviation. Sustainable Aviation Fuel is an immediate solution to the decarbonisation of air travel and cargo flights, without requiring extensive new fueling infrastructure or the expensive replacement of planes.”
