The UK has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that will mandate jet fuel suppliers to blend sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into aircraft fuel starting in 2025. It would set a 10 percent SAF blend requirement by 2030. A target mix for 2025 has not yet been set.

Less than a year ago, the UK launched the Jet Zero Strategy, setting out how the country will deliver on its commitment to reach net-zero aviation emissions by 2050. The SAF mandate is the latest of several measures underway in the strategy program. This strategy assumes a 50 percent SAF uptake by criteria; how carbon certificates will be issued, traded, and used for compliance; interactions with other domestic and international emissions policymakers; and how the mandate will be enacted. “We have already invested in early-stage development of eight UK SAF plants,” the proposal notes. 

The proposal seeks comments on SAF targets set for 2030 and beyond; eligible fuels; and how sustainability will be administered and enforced. Comments are due by June 22.

“Now, more than ever, the [aviation] sector is recognizing that sustainability has to be at the core of its business, as it begins to transform for a net-zero world,” the proposal says. “Progress on decarbonizing is continuing at pace with aviation sector emissions expected to have peaked in 2019.”