British airlines facing £400m bill in battle to hit 'absurd' green targets

British airlines are set to face annual costs exceeding a staggering £434million by the end of the decade to meet the Government's green targets.

According to the International Air Transport Association, the hefty bill comes despite synthetic green fuel e-SAF remaining near impossible to obtain globally.

In response to the egregious requirements, the aviation industry body has launched a scathing attack on the UK's electro-sustainable aviation fuel mandate.

The mandate was originally proposed under the former Conservative Government, before being enacted by Labour last year - with airlines which fail to use sufficient quantities facing penalties equivalent to the cost of the fuel itself.

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Marie Owens Thomsen, the IATA's chief economist, declared Britain's 2030 targets "are beyond unrealistic, they are utterly detached from reality".

Under the mandate, carriers must begin incorporating green fuel by 2028, alongside conventional sustainable fuel derived from waste cooking oil.

By 2030, airlines will be required to ensure e-SAF comprises at least 0.5 per cent of their total fuel consumption.

Preeti Jain, IATA's head of Net Zero, labelled the requirements absurd, and said: "This is a classic example of what happens when you impose policies through a mandate without establishing the technology and the supply chain."

IATA warns that meeting this target will inevitably affect carriers' finances - whether through purchasing the expensive fuel, or paying penalties for non-compliance.

The broader requirement demands that sustainable aviation fuel make up at least 10 per cent of total fuel use by the same deadline - marking the most stringent mandate imposed on the aviation sector anywhere in the world.

Despite the demands, of some 600 refineries operating worldwide, just one facility currently manufactures e-SAF commercially - the Era One plant in Frankfurt.

Global production stands at merely 20,000 tonnes annually, yet combined UK and EU mandates would require output of around 600,000 tonnes per year from roughly 20 dedicated facilities, according to IATA estimates.

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Ms Jain warned that achieving the necessary volumes would prove "a huge task", and that the "window to produce e-SAF has largely been closed".

The push to mandate e-SAF stems from growing concerns about the industry's reliance on waste cooking oils, which are predominantly sourced from restaurants across East Asia.

This supply is deemed inadequate to meet long-term fuel needs, while research has revealed some shipments arriving in Europe have originated from virgin palm forests - ineffective at reducing emissions.

A second facility is said to now be complete, with Canadian company Syntholene having finished construction of its geothermal-powered e-SAF plant in Húsavík, Iceland - six months ahead of schedule.

Following the delivery of a 250kW solid oxide electrolyser from Danish company Dynelectro, Syntholene confirmed it will publish data on its green hydrogen-based e-SAF production pathway by Q4 this year.

Constructed under budget and in just 69 days, the facility aims to validate the e-fuel approach and support e-fuel mandates such as the EU’s RefuelEU Aviation plan.

The site could supply up to 20,000 tonnes of e-SAF per year to Icelandair under a non-binding offtake agreement signed in January.

Dan Sutton, CEO of Syntholene, said: "If successful, we believe validation could represent a meaningful advancement toward cost-competitive synthetic aviation fuel."

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