oneworld Alliance and its member airlines have partnered with Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) to launch a new investment fund aimed at addressing the limited availability and high cost of today’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).
The fund is being led by cornerstone investors Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, and will seek to ‘accelerate the global development of long-term aviation fuel solutions that are cost effective, scalable, and have lower emissions than conventional fuels’, oneworld said in a statement.
The oneworld BEV Fund opens with $150 million in commitments from Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, as well as IAG, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Singapore Airlines.
The fund will seek to invest in next-generation SAF technologies that reduce emissions from aviation while meeting long-term market requirements.
Its goals include creating economic value for investors and regions around the world; driving technology innovation; and the development of a develop a ‘diverse and resilient’ SAF supply chain to meet future demand.
‘Novel technologies’
“By investing in the SAF technologies of the future, American and our oneworld partners are making a business decision to accelerate the development of novel technologies with the potential to reach larger scale at lower prices than current technologies can achieve,” commented Robert Isom, chief executive officer of American Airlines and chairman of oneworld.
“We believe reducing the emissions from our operation meets the demands of our customers, will make our business more competitive, and will enable us to continue to deliver the enormous economic benefits of commercial aviation for generations to come.”
Elsewhere, Ben Minicucci, chief executive officer of Alaska Air Group, added that in Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the group has a “partner with the scientific, technical and commercial expertise to make effective investment decisions that will create the market for next-generation fuels and power our industry in the years ahead.”
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was founded by Bill Gates, will serve as the fund’s investment manager, bringing experience in evaluating early-stage climate technologies and supporting their transition to market.
Eric Toone, chief technology officer at Breakthrough Energy, said that SAF represents both an environmental requirement and a commercial opportunity.
“The oneworld BEV Fund is built to identify and scale breakthrough SAF technologies that can deliver real emissions reductions for jet fuel, compete with fossil-based fuels on cost, and integrate seamlessly with today’s aviation infrastructure,” he said. “These are complex systems-level challenges that will take time to solve, and the fund is built with the long-term vision and staying power to help bring solutions to market.”
SAF has been found to reduce lifecycle emissions of jet fuel by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel. Read more here.
