IATA, Airbus and Accenture released a study in Brussels on the market for sustainable aviation fuel environmental attribute certificates, arguing that corporate purchases of the certificates could become a new source of SAF financing. The study estimates corporate procurement could support 1 million to 1.9 million tonnes of SAF by 2030, up from about 323000 tonnes in 2024. Certificate prices, unclear carbon accounting rules and complex procurement remain the main barriers; the study calls for clear accounting rules, interoperable traceability and simpler purchasing. Corporate demand alone will not close the gap, and government support and capacity growth are still needed.
Topsoe has signed a licensing agreement to provide kerosene hydrotreating technology for co-processing at Bharat Petroleum's Mumbai refinery. BPCL will revamp its 4000-tonne-per-day kerosene hydrotreater to co-process 5% used cooking oil alongside conventional feedstock, producing SAF within existing infrastructure. The final investment decision is taken, the revamp is underway and commissioning is expected by end of 2026; the SAF will supply international flights departing Indian airports ahead of CORSIA compliance in 2027 and India's 1% SAF blending target for 2027.
A feature from the Japanese monthly 'Jigyō Kōsō' online (reprinted with permission from the METI Kinki Bureau's official Note, originally published September 3, 2026) opens the 'Next-Generation Fuel Journal' series on sustainable aviation fuel. It explains that SAF — made from used cooking oil, woody biomass and bioethanol — is a drop-in fuel usable in existing aircraft and fueling infrastructure, cutting lifecycle emissions by roughly 60–80% versus conventional jet fuel; ICAO expects SAF to deliver about 55% of aviation decarbonization by 2050. Japan's policy stack includes the 2030 target of replacing 10% of domestic airlines' fuel with SAF, a public-private SAF council, Green Innovation Fund support for technology development, GX transition bond backing for large manufacturing equipment investment, a tax scheme to promote domestic production in strategic sectors, and feedstock supply-chain support. The three main barriers: high production costs, tight waste-cooking-oil supply amid international competition driving up prices, and securing demand while scaling volumes (2022 global SAF supply was about 300000 kilolitres, just 0.1% of global jet fuel). Domestic projects are advancing in Wakayama, Osaka, Chiba and Okinawa; Cosmo Oil's Sakai refinery began supplying domestically produced SAF in April 2025; the Kinki Bureau has hosted the 'Kansai Next-Generation Fuel Forum NEXT' since 2023, most recently on March 10, 2026.
The US grain industry sees India's sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sector as a potential new market for American corn, according to UkrAgroConsult. The concept involves using corn-based ethanol in alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology to produce aviation fuel. The US industry is also promoting imported corn for ethanol aimed at higher road-fuel blending levels such as E85, while India's existing E20 program would continue to rely mainly on domestic feedstocks. US representatives expect India's future ethanol demand could eventually exceed its domestic feedstock capacity, and see India's existing ethanol distillery network as a foundation for SAF production — though technology investment, certification and long-term offtake agreements would be needed. Access for US corn to the Indian market remains sensitive due to protections for domestic farmers and restrictions on GM products, so the US industry is pushing to focus the discussion on ethanol's lifecycle carbon footprint rather than feedstock origin alone. Hindustan Times separately reported that US companies are also exploring investments in SAF facilities in India using ATJ technology.
Cambridge-based biotech startup Neela Biotech has raised $2.8 million in pre-seed funding to move its waste-to-SAF technology from the lab to a pilot-scale trial at a biogas plant over the next two years. The company converts diverse waste streams from food, agriculture and forest residue into fatty acids — a critical precursor for HEFA-based SAF production — through an AI-guided, controlled microbial process, positioning abundant waste streams as an alternative to scarce waste cooking oils.
On August 19, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced exclusively by Haixin Energy (300072.SZ) was uplifted at Beijing Capital International Airport onto a Beijing–Brussels flight. The SAF was refined from waste cooking oil collected in the Beijing region — from outlets including KFC and McDonald's — via standardized sealed transport by CNAF (中国航油) and 中京征和, processed by Haixin Energy, blended and uplifted by CNAF at the airport, with carbon emission reduction rights registered and traded on the Anchor Trace platform built by 民航二所 and CNAF. It is the first case in China where the entire chain — local waste oil collection, local refining, local uplift and local carbon-right settlement — was closed within a single region (Beijing), described as a replicable "Haixin model" for a fully localized SAF closed loop. Haixin had already supplied its first SAF batch to Beijing Daxing and Chengdu Shuangliu airports in April 2025; its SAF now covers both of Beijing's hub airports.
At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on October 9, the Uttar Pradesh government approved the Uttar Pradesh Sustainable Aviation Fuel Manufacturing Promotion Policy-2026, aiming to make the state a major SAF production hub. The policy promotes SAF made from agricultural residues, municipal waste and non-edible oilseeds — including rice husk, wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse — and leans on the state's strong sugarcane and ethanol industries to support second-generation biofuel and alcohol-to-jet pathways. Manufacturing units are classified by investment size: large (Rs 200-500 crore), mega (Rs 500-1,500 crore) and ultra-mega (above Rs 1,500 crore). Incentives include stamp duty relief, exemption from land-use conversion charges and development fees, reimbursement of net state GST, interest subsidies, a full electricity-duty exemption for up to 10 years, skill-development subsidies and patent-registration-fee reimbursement. The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) will serve as the nodal agency for approving and disbursing incentives, and the policy stays in force for five years.
YPF, Argentina's state-majority oil company, confirmed on October 7 that the country will produce sustainable aviation fuel for the first time. Under a long-term deal with TotalEnergies, the French group will invest more than $400 million to convert the San Lorenzo refinery in Santa Fe province — idle since 2017 — into a biorefinery focused on SAF and renewable diesel, operated by Santa Fe Bio, a 50/50 joint venture between YPF and Essential Energy. The plant is expected to produce about 170,000 tonnes a year of SAF, HVO and other renewable fuels, with TotalEnergies buying most of the output. Construction runs in two phases: a pretreatment unit (about 30% advanced) and the final biorefinery, with operations targeted for the end of 2029.
Boeing and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials launched a report assessing India's readiness to scale SAF, noting India's targets of 1% blending by 2027, 2% by 2028 and 5% by 2030, alongside mandatory CORSIA participation.
Montana Renewables marked the development of a Minnesota sustainable aviation fuel hub, linking its renewable fuel production with Midwest feedstock supply and airport demand to build a regional SAF value chain.
Montana Renewables announced a capital-efficient expansion that will lift its sustainable aviation fuel capacity to 200 million gallons per year, using its existing Great Falls facility footprint to keep costs down while meeting growing SAF demand from airlines.
Cosmo Oil and partners began using waste cooking oil collected from residents in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, as SAF feedstock — a first for Japan's Shikoku region. The oil feeds the SAFFAIRE SKY ENERGY supply chain producing domestic sustainable aviation fuel from used cooking oil.
Shougang LanzaTech and Sinopec will advance a 50,000-ton-per-year project converting off-gas to ethanol and onward to sustainable aviation fuel. The project scales waste-gas ethanol fermentation toward SAF.
A decade after the CORSIA agreement on aviation emissions, governments are being urged to strengthen the global framework to ensure it delivers meaningful emissions reductions as sustainable aviation fuel deployment scales up.
The European Commission reports that EASA's annual ReFuelEU review recorded 1.1 million tonnes of SAF supplied at EU airports in 2025, representing 2.8% of aviation fuel supplied and exceeding the 2% minimum. The Commission also says about 50 synthetic aviation fuel projects were awaiting final investment decisions. Those planned projects are separate from operational capacity.
Infinium's Project Atlas was selected to supply sustainable aviation fuel certificates under SABA's next-generation procurement. The project plans 100,000 MTPA capacity with 95% carbon intensity reduction, partnering with American Airlines for logistics and delivery.
Infinium announced construction of Project Roadrunner in Reeves County, Texas, backed by Brookfield and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. The facility, expected to reach commercial operations in 2027, will produce 23,000 tonnes of eSAF annually for customers including American Airlines and IAG.
Jet Zero Australia secured $14 million in government grants to advance Project Ulysses, a Sustainable Aviation Fuel plant in Townsville. The funding supports FEED completion and targets production start by 2027, following over $30 million in private investment.
LanzaJet announced the grand opening of Freedom Pines Fuels in Soperton, Georgia, the world's first alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel production facility. The plant will produce 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel annually from ethanol, with support from US government officials.