Source: ALTA

  • The incorporation of SAF can reduce carbon emissions from air transport by 60%. Latin America has the potential to be a leading region in the production of sustainable aviation fuel but requires a clear and harmonized public policy

The decarbonization of air transport is a commitment of Latin American and Caribbean airlines. Therefore, during the ALTA AGM & Airline Leaders Forum organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), a panel was held on the opportunity for Latin America to be a competitive market for the production and distribution of SAF, sustainable aviation fuel, a key component to achieving the goal of zero emissions by 2050.

Louise Burke, Vice President of Global Aviation and Biofuels of ARGUS, moderated the panel, which included Erasmo Battistela, CEO of BSBIOS; Juan José Toha, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability LATAM Airlines; Manuel Macedo, President of Honeywell Latin America and Thorsten Lange, EVP Renewable Aviation NESTE.

“It will be necessary to bring together technology suppliers, sustainable fuel producers, and governments with incentive policies and macroeconomic measures that allow the entire value chain to benefit,” stressed Manuel Macedo, President of Honeywell in the region.

He explained that setting up a plant to produce and refine FFS may require investments of up to one billion dollars and up to five years.  He admitted that SAF fuel prices are a challenge as they are currently higher than fossil fuel. Still, he considers that if nothing is done, the cost to the airline industry (doing nothing) will be higher due to the impact of continuing with traditional fossil fuels in the face of environmental challenges.

BSBIOS is the Brazilian company building the Omega Green plant in Paraguay. Its CEO highlighted that doing a PAS project in Latin America is a great challenge. “I think the great potential we have is the raw material. We are big producers of raw material, and that is our strength”.

LATAM will use 5% of the PBS produced in the region

Juan José Toha, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability LATAM Airlines, stated that LATAM has committed to reducing its emissions to become carbon neutral by 2050 and 50% of its emissions by 2030. He added that they need to raise efficiency levels. “There is room for improvement. We require a carbon offset policy and the SAF,” he said, noting that these elements are generated in a virtuous and agile way.

“We assumed and declared our willingness to reach the year 2030 using 5% of FFS produced in the region. We believe that this is the role that LATAM can play, which is to encourage, to give a clear signal, both for public policies and for producers, in terms of saying here is a company that has the will to advance in this line and wants to do this. Still, it requires that there is production at the local level to be able to do it.”

Manuel Macedo from Honeywell Latin America pointed out that 90% of airplanes operate with its technology. In all these years, especially in the aerospace industry, they have worked with all these companies to create more efficiency. He added that they had improved the efficiency of engines and, in general, by 80%.

The company is also one of the essential licensees in fuel technologies, not only in new ones such as SAF. Macedo pointed out that the world releases 40 billion tons of CO2, of which only 2% comes from aviation. “We have to look for fuels that reduce CO2 emissions, and the use of SAF is one of the four or five ways to do it”, he said.

Thorsten Lange, VP of Renewable Aviation at NESTE, explained that they started producing PBS four years ago without having the support. The company is currently building two more refineries, one of them in Singapore. “I am talking about a global business that can generate one billion tons by next year and another 500,000 tons by the end of 2023,” he stressed.

Governments have a fundamental role in the generation of adequate public policies, and ALTA has emphasized that this is a State agenda that promotes the socio-economic development of countries through air transport. In terms of PAS, ALTA is committed to working with governments on this agenda with a focus on attracting long-term investment by providing legal certainty, providing incentives for production/consumption: similar to biofuels in land transport, financing PAS production programs: providing guarantees, research, and development in the PAS supply chain and access to essential infrastructure for competitiveness.