The UK will be seeking quantifiable goals for global SAF uptake at the third ICAO Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) later this month.

CAAF/3 will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 20 to 24 November 2023. It will bring together high-level officials from states who will have the authority to make policy-related decisions, as well as international organisations with direct involvement in aviation energy.

A UK delegation will be attending with the aim of supporting the global supply of SAF.

Alex Philpott, deputy head of aviation decarbonisation at the UK Department of Transport, said: “Our top priority is to set a quantifiable goal … where we want to be in 2030, and long term in 2050, in terms of the global uptake of SAF.”

ICAO summit

Reflecting on the CAAF/3 summit, he said it was a “really important opportunity to kickstart the development and deployment of SAF.

“If this is going to really make a difference to aircraft emissions globally… then we need to look at this as an international community through ICAO.

“The UK has been working hard at this for some time now.”

Philpott said it was also important to support poorer nations as the industry moves towards greater use of SAF.

“Developing countries in particular are further behind on this,” he said. “They are just learning what SAF is and wondering if it is threat or an opportunity.”Subscribe to the FINN weekly newsletter

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