(Credit: Pixabay)Google has joined the sustainable aviation fuel program by American Express Global Business Travel and Shell Aviation.
The program aims to help finance aviation’s transition to net zero by using SAF, a biofuel made from renewable biomass and waste resources, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. It has the potential to replace petroleum-based jet fuel and replace as much as 80% of carbon emissions as compared to traditional jet fuel.
The SAF program from Amex GBT and Shell Aviation brings together major industry players, including Aon, Bank of America, Delta, Cathay Pacific, JetBlue, Japan Airlines -- and now Google.
“The use of SAF will play a critical role in helping the aviation sector on its path to decarbonize,” Michael Terrell, senior director of climate and energy at Google, said in a statement. “Joining Amex GBT’s sustainable aviation fuel program further represents Google’s continued efforts to accelerate the global transition to a carbon-free future.”
The program launched in 2022 with 1 million gallons of SAF available for corporate customers. According to Amex, that’s enough SAF to power almost 15,000 business trips from London to New York. Business travel is a good place to start for these companies, as air travel accounts for around 90% of business travel emissions.
While the program has big names attached to it, SAF still only makes up 0.1% of available aviation fuel. It is also two to eight times more expensive than conventional fossil-based jet fuel, which has a big impact on its demand. By bringing more businesses together in the program, including Shell Aviation’s airline customers and the purchasing power of Amex GBT’s more than 19,000 corporate customers across 140 countries, the cost of SAF can be co-funded and scaled.
“It’s great that through the Avelia program Shell Aviation will supply SAF to support Google in cutting emissions from its corporate flying,” said Jan Toschka, president of Shell Aviation. “Considering Google’s stature and prominence this announcement represents an important milestone for decarbonising aviation. As scaling the uptake of SAF will only be possible if all parts of the aviation value chain work together, we’re thrilled to work with such an influential and forward-thinking company.”
The program is also powered by blockchain, a technology that stores data through blocks linked together securely. Avelia, a blockchain-powered digital SAF book-and-claim platform for business travel, tracks the environmental attributes of SAF delivered into the aviation fueling network. The transparency and security of Avelia’s technology means corporations can report the verified lifecycle of their emissions from SAF.
The program is not the only one focused on leveraging SAF. Virgin Airlines and Rolls-Royce recently successfully tested a ground test of a sustainable aviation fuel blend on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 airplane engine, which the companies plan to use on a transatlantic flight. The test demonstrates to the larger commercial jet space that replacement for traditional jet fuel is possible.
