Air Canada has signed an agreement with Neste purchase 77.6 million litres (20.5 million U.S. gallons) of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ (SAF).
This purchase represents Air Canada’s first commercial import of SAF into Canada. Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer at Air Canada gave comment on the first purchase. He stressed the importance of SAF in the airline’s multifaceted approach to reducing its environmental impact.
“Air Canada is actively pursuing efforts to mitigate its greenhouse gas emissions. SAF is a critical component of our strategy to promote environmental sustainability in our operations. This SAF purchase from Neste contributes significantly to our target of procuring SAF for one per cent of our estimated jet fuel use in 2025.”
The Need for Canadian SAF Production
Rousseau also emphasized the need for government support to develop a competitive SAF industry and production market in Canada.
“Air Canada and the Canadian aviation industry will continue to depend on imported SAF. SAF must also become available at scale in Canada to achieve our long-term aspirational goal. We aim for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”
“This is why we at Air Canada are asking federal and provincial governments to play a role. They need to support the development of a competitive SAF industry and production market in Canada.”
Carl Nyberg, Executive Vice President at Neste, expressed the company’s pride in expanding its partnership with Air Canada.
“We are proud to expand our partnership with Air Canada by supplying them with a large volume of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel for use at Vancouver Airport. It is the first time our SAF is supplied to Canada.”
“It underlines our commitment to supporting the Canadian aviation industry in its efforts to mitigate emissions and also shows the important role that policy support can play in accelerating SAF usage. We look forward to continuing our excellent collaboration with Air Canada.”
Global SAF Supply Remains Limited
The current global SAF supply remains very limited and costly. It presently accounts for only a small fraction of worldwide aviation fuel demand.
In 2024, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) provided some serious context on the situation. It said that a tripling of SAF production in 2024 would still only account for 0.53% of aviation’s total fuel requirements in that year.
To address this challenge, Air Canada, along with other major Canadian companies, has been engaged with the government. They aim to advance the general availability of SAF. The airline hopes to encourage support for the development of a cost-competitive Canadian-made supply of SAF for commercial aviation.
Achieving this will require a balanced regulatory approach that aligns demand with supply. This will enable the aviation industry to decarbonize through energy transition while mitigating impacts on consumers.
Canada is uniquely positioned to lead in the production of SAF, with its abundant renewable feedstocks, advanced refining capabilities, and innovative technology providers.
By leveraging these strengths, the country can create a resilient supply chain that not only supports its environmental goals but also drives economic growth and job creation.
Summary
Air Canada continues to work towards its long-term aspirational goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from all its global operations by 2050.
The airline’s “Leave Less Travel Program” is offered to corporate customers and cargo freight forwarders. They can purchase scope 3 environmental attributes associated with SAF, carbon offsets, or a combination of both, related to their own business air travel or cargo shipments on Air Canada.
This program is one of the many initiatives being implemented to help customers with their own environmental sustainability goals.
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