Air Canada and Airbus announced plans to establish a jointly funded Sustainability Co-Investment Platform to help accelerate commercial scale sustainable aviation fuel production in Canada.
The companies said they intend to invest up to approximately C$13.7 million, or about US$10 million, through the platform to support development of Canada's SAF industry. The initiative is designed to help move a jointly selected Canadian SAF project toward a final investment decision while encouraging broader investment across the domestic renewable aviation fuel sector.
The companies said continued collaboration with federal and provincial governments will be necessary to create policy frameworks that support large scale SAF production and improve the competitiveness of renewable aviation fuels. Air Canada and Airbus are also continuing to work with the Canadian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Coalition to promote policies that encourage domestic production.
In addition to the investment platform, Airbus has entered a five year agreement under Air Canada's Leave Less Travel Program to help stimulate demand for SAF. Under the agreement, Airbus will purchase sustainable aviation fuel environmental attributes associated with more than 60,000 liters of SAF for its initial allocation.
Through the program, Air Canada will track greenhouse gas emissions generated by Airbus corporate travel and retire verified SAF environmental attributes on the company's behalf. The companies said the program is intended to support greater adoption of SAF while reducing the life cycle emissions associated with business travel.
The initiative complements Air Canada's fleet modernization efforts, which include the addition of more fuel efficient aircraft such as the Airbus A321XLR and the Airbus A220. Both companies said SAF will play an important role in helping the aviation industry work toward its goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Airbus also released a macroeconomic study prepared with ICF that examined Canada's potential for sustainable aviation fuel production. According to the study, producing enough domestic SAF to supply 40% of Canada's aviation fuel demand by 2040 could contribute $32 billion to the country's gross domestic product and support 140,000 jobs across agricultural, forestry and urban regions.
Sustainable aviation fuel is produced from renewable feedstocks rather than fossil sources. While chemically similar to conventional jet fuel, SAF offers lower life cycle carbon emissions and is considered a key renewable fuel for reducing emissions from the aviation sector.
Source: Air Canada, "Air Canada and Airbus launch joint initiative to scale domestic Canadian SAF and help reduce the life-cycle emissions of corporate travel"