Air BP has partnered with leading renewable products producer, Neste, to explore opportunities to increase the supply and availability of sustainable aviation jet fuel (SAJF).

The partnership is in response to the aviation industry’s ambitious targets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from air transportation, including carbon neutral growth from 2020 and a 50% reduction of net aviation carbon emissions from 2050. Although the industry is very much in the early stages of its journey towards decarbonisation, it is widely believed that the broad adoption of SAJF has the largest potential for reduction in aviation’s gas emissions.

Made by blending conventional, fossil-based kerosene with renewable hydrocarbons produced from sources such as recycled cooking oil, sustainable aviation fuel reduces crude oil consumption and produces lower life-cycle carbon emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.

Supplying fuel and related services for over 90 years to transportation hubs around the world, Air BP has positioned itself as a pioneer when it comes to targeting a lower carbon future. It was the first aviation fuel supplier to achieve carbon neutrality for its into-plane fuelling operations at over 250 locations in 2016 and has supplied BP Biojet in the Nordics since 2014 at around 10 airports. This includes Oslo Airport, where Air BP was the first to supply sustainable aviation fuel through the airport’s existing fuelling infrastructure.

One of the goals of its collaboration with Neste will be to bring a co-branded sustainable aviation fuel to market at airports across Air BP’s global network, which includes a number of business and general aviation hubs.

Commenting on the collaboration, Jon Platt, Air BP’s CEO said:

We are very pleased that through our collaboration with Neste, an industry leader in this space, we will be able to continue to support our customers with their low carbon ambitions. The aviation industry’s carbon reduction targets can only be achieved with support from across the entire supply chain and, by bringing our experience and expertise together, we are looking to driving change by promoting and securing the supply of sustainable aviation fuel.

Demonstrating its achievements in the field of renewable energy, Neste’s MY Renewable Jet Fuel has already proven its technical capability in thousands of commercial flights. It can easily be adopted by airlines without the need for additional investments in new jet engines or segregated fuel distribution systems. It is produced from renewable and sustainable raw materials, thus significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the life-cycle.

Kaisa Hietala, Neste’s executive vice president in the renewable products business area, added her enthusiasm for the collaboration saying: “Working together, we can find the best ways of developing robust supply chains to ensure that renewable jet fuel is more widely accessible. We expect our collaboration will not only be able to provide a solution to better matching supply to increased demand for renewable jet fuel, but it will also deliver distinct advantages to airlines by significantly decreasing their environmental footprint.”

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