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Airbus, the Air France-KLM Group, energy firm Associated Energy Group, LLC, financial services providers BNP Paribas and Burnham Sterling, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., and Qantas Airways Limited, have collectively invested in a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) financing fund. The purpose of the fund is to stimulate the production of sustainable aviation fuel and expedite its adoption as a sustainable alternative to traditional aviation fuel.
The corporate partners worked with investment manager Burnham Sterling Asset Management to establish the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance (SAFFA) investment fund in which Airbus is the anchor Investor. The commitment from the seven partners is amounting to an aggregate of approximately $200 million.
Each of the seven corporate partners has made a financial contribution to the fund, aiming to hasten the availability of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) through investments primarily in SAF production projects that rely on advanced, waste-derived feedstock conversion technologies.
The fund will also seek diversification in its investment portfolio by supporting various SAF production pathways and spreading its financial resources across different regions
The partnership envisages each corporate partner to potentially enter into priority contracts for the procurement of SAF volumes from the projects that SAFFA will invest in, thereby ensuring that a significant proportion of SAF produced through SAFFA’s investments will be reserved for the respective corporate partners.
The primary focus of SAFFA will be on investments in SAF production projects that are eligible for certification under the European Union’s RefuelEU Aviation(1) scheme or the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA(2)).
SAFFA made its first investment in Crysalis Biosciences, a tech company dedicated to renewing U.S. chemical manufacturing infrastructure with innovative fuel and chemical production technologies.
The company’s recent accomplishments include the acquisition and renovation of the Monarch facility, an ethanol plant located in Sauget, Illinois, USA, which was shuttered in 2019. As of the first quarter of 2024, the plant has completed the upgrades and received the necessary environmental authorisations to resume operations with the aim to produce low carbon intensity SAF and biochemicals.
