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Bill Gates’ sustainable energy accelerator Breakthrough Energy provided BIO member LanzaJet with a $50 million grant to build a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility in Soperton, GA, according to reports. The factory is expected to start work in 2023 and promises to produce lower-emission gasoline that, for the first time, is made at a comparable cost to fossil fuel-based alternatives, according to Bloomberg and Fortune.
“Aviation accounts for approximately 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually, and as a ‘drop-in’ fuel, sustainable aviation fuels offer an important way to quickly decarbonize aviation with existing aircraft currently in use around the world,” says LanzaJet. “Produced from a variety of low-carbon, sustainable feedstocks such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, energy crops, or carbon captured from industrial processes or ambient air, SAF is a like-kind replacement for traditional jet fuel and is compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure.”
International airlines, including British Airways, Delta, and United, have already allocated $17 billion to “forward-purchasing agreements for sustainable aviation fuel,” Bloomberg reports.
“Big Oil” is also participating in the action. According to Alastair Syme of Citigroup, the “green pivot” is “no longer focused on renewable electricity,” with biofuels receiving greater attention, Bloomberg reports. For instance, according to Bloomberg, BP will purchase a Houston-based business that “captures waste emissions from landfills and farms and turns them into biogas.”
