Although the company's officials have not disclosed the volume the refinery plans to produce or the investment needed to reconfigure the site in order to produce sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel, the project could cost ”hundreds of millions of dollars”, according to Reuters.
The aviation industry accounts for about 2% of the global carbon emissions, but the industry is striving to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
In order to achieve that, airlines are relying on SAF usage to grow from about 100 million liters a year (in 2021) to at least 449 billion liters per year within the next 3 decades.
At this point, Australia has no SAF production and has no mandates for the fuel, unlike the European Union, which recently approved plans to require suppliers to blend a minimum of 2% of SAF into their jet fuel from 2025, rising to 85% in 2050.
Any thoughts?