International Airlines Group (IAG, parent company of British Airways and Iberia) and Microsoft have signed largest co-financed purchase agreement bearing on 14,700 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (FAS).
The airline group IAG has pledged to spend $865 million in future SAF purchases, aiming to use SAF for 10% of its fuel needs by 2023. The group finances supply contracts as well as investments to accelerate the production of SAF, including included in the factories of tconverting waste into fuel of Nova Pangea in the UK.
For its part, Microsoft will co-finance the purchase of the 14,700 tons of SAF for IAG, enough to completely supply approximately 300 British Airways Boeing 787 flights between London and Seattle. This agreement will allow Microsoft to offset your carbon emissions and progress towards its goal of being carbon negative by 2030.
Produced by the Humber refinery at Phillips 66 from used cooking oil and food waste (which will be certified by International Sustainability & Carbon Certification, ISCC), the SAF co-financed by IAG and Microsoft will be supplied this year to British airlines Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling operating from London-Heathrow and London-Gatwick airports.
” The development of SAF is essential for the long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector. Strong business partnerships like this will help drive the global investment needed to build and sustain a commercially viable SAF market. We’re excited to see leading companies like Microsoft leading the way says Jonathon Counsell, sustainability manager at IAG.
With the right policy support, 30 SAF factories could be built in the UK and Europe over the next eight years, saving seven million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030, IAG estimates.
