September 29, 2023
The third ISCC Technical Stakeholder Meeting on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) soared to new heights on the 19th of September, bringing together 340 participants online from all over the world and 15 distinguished speakers on-site in Cologne. The event was a testament to the growing interest and commitment to advancing sustainable aviation fuels.
The day was packed with engaging discussions on a wide range of topics, including the latest developments in the field, innovative practices in SAF supply chains, and the ISCC Credit Transfer System. It was a perfect occasion to highlight the noteworthy achievement in June 2023 when ISCC CORSIA’s recognition was extended by ICAO, covering CORSIA’s post-pilot phase from 2024 to 2026.
One event highlight was the panel discussion led by Prof. Gernot Klepper, Chairman of the ISCC e.V. Board, focused on driving the uptake of sustainably certified SAF. Esteemed panellists, including Korinna Joerling (Team Lead Renewable Fuels), Sven Riese (Aviation Sustainability Advisor, BP), and Azim Norazmi (Climate Policy Manager, IATA), shared invaluable insights and perspectives when talking about tackling three pivotal challenges:
- speeding up the supply of SAF,
- creating demand for SAF and
- the so-called “rules of the game”, as Prof. Gernot mentioned, which are regulations.
Anna Oldani, Aviation Energy Program Manager at the US Federal Aviation Mission, began by updating attendees on recent SAF policy developments in the US. Following this, Ewa Oney, Team Lead DG Move at the EU Commission, shifted the focus to the European market, highlighting the ambitious efforts required to achieve sustainability goals collectively.
The presentations by Katharina Heidrich, Senior System Manager at ISCC, and Karyn Jones, Director of Sustainability at Gevo, provided a deeper understanding of smart agricultural practices’ role in low-carbon intensity SAF feedstock production. They emphasised the significance of these practices as a solution for sustainable SAF development. Specifically, Karyn Jones reports interesting insights from the SAF producers’ perspective in her presentation.
To conclude the day’s discussions, Thomas Bock, System Manager at ISCC, offered an insightful overview of the ISCC Credit Transfer System, which effectively bridges physical, mass balance-based SAF supply chains with the claims made by airlines, logistics providers, and aviation end-customers. This system ensures transparency and credibility through a well-defined rule set and a secure digital registry for all SAF credit transfers and associated claims, thus providing a comprehensive perspective on the importance of verifiable SAF sourcing in the aviation industry.
In the closing panel discussion, Bettina Paschke (VP ESG Accounting, Reporting & Controlling, DHL) aptly noted, “At the moment regarding reporting sustainable fuels, we are in the middle age, especially if we want to increase our volumes every year […]“, which sounds fatal at first glance, but illustrates once again why it is important to provide solutions and more space in public discourse for a regular lively exchange between industry experts. With that in mind, we aim to build and keep credibility towards customers.
Make it available, make it scalable, make it fly!
The event concluded on an inspiring note with Gabriel Bollongino’s (Product Manager, Neste) words, “Make it available, make it scalable, make it fly!” These words echo the collective enthusiasm for the future of SAF, and we eagerly anticipate the next Technical Stakeholder Meeting on Sustainable Aviation Fuels. It was indeed a day filled with insights, innovation and a shared commitment to a more sustainable aviation future. We want to extend our gratitude to all the contributors who made the event a resounding success. While we couldn’t cover every topic and speaker in this recap in detail, your active involvement as speakers and engaged participants was instrumental. Your dedication to advancing sustainable aviation fuels is steering us toward a greener aviation future. Thank you for being part of this remarkable journey!