Sustainable aviation fuel take-up in UK unlikely to hit 2025 target, data suggests | Airline industry
Official figures suggest the use of sustainable aviation fuels will fall short of the UK government’s initial annual mandate.
Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) account for just 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights; This means 20% less fuel by volume than the 2% needed to meet the requirement.
The government introduced guidance in January requiring suppliers to meet SAF targets within the UK’s general aviation fuel mix, which the industry argues are important for reducing carbon emissions.
mandatory target It will rise sharply from 2% in 2025 to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040, including the use of second-generation fuels, which are seen as more sustainable in the long term.
DfT figures showed that so far the supply of SAF has been produced exclusively from recycled cooking oil from Asia, particularly China.
Data shows that just over 160 million liters (35 million gallons) of the 10 billion liters of jet fuel burned in the UK by the beginning of October were used.
The DfT said the time required for verification meant the figures were provisional and final figures for the year were not expected to be published until November 2026. A spokesman for the department said: “These figures do not give the full picture. SAF volumes are constantly increasing and not all suppliers report on the fuel they supply.”
Airplanes burning SAF still emit equal amounts of CO2 However, due to the way SAF is produced, its net carbon footprint is calculated to be much lower compared to regular jet fuel. Although many scientists and environmental groups remain deeply skeptical that the material can be delivered, the production and procurement of SAF is seen as the only way for commercial, and especially long-haul, aviation to reduce its emissions.
Ministers have pledged to consult the Climate Change Committee on plans to build a third runway at Heathrow, as the government supports aviation as a driver of economic growth and allows airports such as Gatwick and Luton to expand rapidly.
Aviation minister Keir Mather told an industry conference in London earlier this month that Heathrow expansion would still have to meet Labour’s four tests, including reducing its climate impact, but decarbonisation would be “a license for growth”.
He said SAF represented the biggest opportunity and that the government’s SAF bill, passed by the House of Lords, would “deliver the revenue certainty mechanism you want – providing a guaranteed price for SAF that reduces risks for investors and increases confidence for producers”.
Heathrow airport has encouraged SAF uptake with an incentive scheme that reduces landing fees for airlines that use cleaner fuel. It expects to achieve its own 3% SAF usage target by 2025.
However, airlines have less supply outside larger hub airports and are questioning whether future obligations can be met; especially when it mandates energy-to-liquid SAF, which is more costly and will not yet be produced at scale.
The UK has made more progress than most in global aviation. International airline Iata recently warned that growth in production worldwide has stalled, with SAF accounting for just 0.6% of total jet fuel consumption in 2025 and forecast to rise to 0.8% in 2026.
Iata chief executive Willie Walsh criticized the instructions, adding: “If the aim is to increase SAF production to further advance the decarbonisation of aviation then they need to learn from the failures and work with the airline industry to design incentives that will work.”
Duncan McCourt, chief executive of air industry body Sustainable Aviation, said: “These provisional figures show the UK is using significant quantities of SAF and we are confident that this guidance will be met and that UK aviation will be using increasing amounts of SAF in the coming years.”
