In the short term, more sustainable fuels are the best option for reducing flight emissions. These fuels are biokerosene and synthetic kerosene. The main advantage is that these fuels can be used in existing aircraft; technical adjustments are not needed. Furthermore, biokerosene is already available on the market.
More sustainable fuels are also known as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Although the name suggests otherwise, they are not yet 100% sustainable. These fuels produce 70 to 90% less CO2 than fossil kerosene, but some emissions do remain.
The more sustainable fuel biokerosene is already available at Schiphol. It is made from vegetable or animal waste products, such as cooking oil. Airlines use biokerosene at Schiphol only on a very small scale. It accounts for 1 to 2% of the total amount of fuel refuelled at the airport. The main reason is that it’s almost three times more expensive than regular kerosene and has limited availability. Between 2022 and 2024, Schiphol encouraged the purchase of SAF by subsidising the additional cost. As a result, more than 40,000 tons of SAF was used by participating airlines
To make synthetic kerosene, CO2 extracted from the air is converted into fuel using hydrogen or electricity. This is done in the most sustainable way possible. It is not yet on the market, but still in development. KLM and Shell have already demonstrated that it can be flown with safely. On 22 January 2021, KLM operated the first flight (Schiphol-Madrid) for which a small amount of synthetic kerosene was blended with standard fuel. Schiphol is stimulating the development of synthetic kerosene by co-investing in the establishment of a production facility by startup Synkero.
SAF is still very expensive. That keeps supply and demand low. The fuel blending mandate will change that. The European Union's goal is for all flights to blend an amount of 2% SAF by 2025. By 2030, this should be 6% (of which 1.2% synthetic kerosene). The Netherlands has greater ambitions. The goal is to have a 14% share of SAF by 2030. Because of the European blending obligation and Dutch ambitions, expansion of production is underway and some plants are almost ready. If supply and demand go up, the price will fall and the price differential with fossil kerosene will narrow. That should drive demand further.
