Back in 2008, Virgin Atlantic flew a Boeing 747 between London and Amsterdam partly powered by a biofuel made from Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts, with Sir Richard Branson hailing the event as a “vital breakthrough”. Last year, the airline one-upped the original event by staging the first transatlantic flight using 100% of these fuels, rather than in a blend with traditional jet fuel.
“Agricultural land use changes could threaten global food security as well as nature-based carbon sequestration solutions such as the preservation of forests and wetlands. As such, SAF production may actively undermine the Paris agreement goal of achieving greatly reduced emissions by 2050,” the report states. Other than high land usage, high costs is yet another hurdle that’s been plaguing the SAF sector. Energy pricing agency Argus Media has reported SAF prices at $6.