Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The SAF Podcast

Why does eSAF live or die on the electricity bill? Alex Zorniger of Power to Hydrogen (P2H2) explains electrolysers in plain English, and why they matter to power-to-liquid SAF. 

In this episode we cover:

• Why hydrogen makes up 50 to 60% of the cost of a gallon of eSAF, and why electricity is around 70% of that hydrogen cost
• SOEC vs PEM vs alkaline vs AEM: What do these all mean, how each electrolyser works, where each one wins, and what the market share looks like today
• Why intermittent renewables favour membrane-based electrolysers, and why SOEC suits steady sources like geothermal
• A quick calculation any developer can use to test whether a project’s hydrogen cost stacks up
• What bankability means for new electrolyser technology, and why banks want proven scale
• How to tackle the the challenge of performance guarantees.
• Why pressure and purity matter when integrating hydrogen into the SAF production process

Whether you’re a developer, investor or newcomer to eSAF, this is the essential guide to the technology at the heart of power-to-liquids.

SAF Investor London returns on 23 to 24 February 2027, bringing together the investors and stakeholders scaling sustainable aviation fuel finance. Find out more about the conference here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/149733/london-2027/

On this week's episode of The SAF Podcast we welcome back Nova Pangaea Technologies (NPT) for the first time since 2023. 10 months into his role as CEO, Stewart Stewart, we discuss what attracted him to SAF and get some updates from NPT.

We cover a variety of topics including:

• Why energy ventures fail: it’s rarely the chemistry, it’s the handoffs between science, engineering, finance and the first commercial plant. 
• A reminder of NPT's REFNOVA process which turns forestry and agricultural waste into second-generation sugars and biochar. The sugars become ethanol, which goes to SAF via alcohol-to-jet, while the biochar locks carbon into soil, making the fuel carbon negative on a lifecycle basis.
• The campaign two at the Wilton demonstration plant in Teesside delivered more than three days of stable, continuous operation, validated externally by Fichtner. His verdict: “boring is beautiful”, since every uneventful hour turns investor imagination into operating data.
• We discuss what is next up on the horizon as the NPT scale up continues. 
• Project Speedbird, with IAG/British Airways and LanzaJet, gives the company a clear route to market and a single killer app. Nova Pangaea provides the ethanol, LanzaJet the alcohol-to-jet technology, and IAG the offtake.
• On LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines facility, he’s watching closely but notes Nova Pangaea has fallback options: other alcohol-to-jet plants and road fuels
• Stewart argues the industry should reward emissions reduction, not just litres produced. Under the UK SAF mandate, Nova Pangaea can monetise its biochar sequestration through additional SAF certificates, delivering two to three times the carbon impact of other fuels.
• Sceptical of shipping feedstock around the world: with around 80% of European used cooking oil and tallow imported from Southeast Asia Stewart highlights HEFA supply security and sees book-and-claim as the more honest decarbonisation route.
• Finally we touch on NPT's continual fundraising and how much time this ends up taking from Stewart's schedule.

Check out the full episode to find out all the details. 

This week's episode of The SAF Podcast steps beyond SAF to ask a bigger question: what do today's energy shocks mean for investors? Jeffrey Altman, Senior Advisor, Finadvice joins Oscar and suggests the real crisis isn't the price of energy but the price of dependence.

Oscar and Jeff discuss:

• Why this energy crisis differs from past ones, and why there's no quick way to decouple our existing energy supply chain reliance. 
• Hybrid war, and why investors should start pricing in downtime.
• The shift from asset-light bets to capital-intensive investment in domestic manufacturing, alternative fuels and critical infrastructure.
• Why policy certainty is the biggest lever, and which governments are sending the right signals.
• What defence buyers actually want from SAF: reliable, commercially competitive fuel, not subsidy.
• How reliance on Asian supply is pushing the case for onshore and nearshore production.
• Why family offices could be the Medicis of the next innovation wave.

Check out this episode if you want to to hear a deeper discussion around current energy constraints and how to restructure them.

Certification has a reputation for being complicated. Dario Formenti, senior systems manager - sustainable fuels,  International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) thinks that's overdone, and explains why.

On this week's episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar and Dario cover why certification is far more than a stamp on paper. It underpins market access, compliance claims and the credibility SAF needs to scale. They also discuss:

• How ISCC handles e-SAF and RFNBOs, including its pre-certification framework for early movers
• Where ISCC PLUS, the credit transfer system and combined audits fit in
• The push for EU RED and CORSIA dual conformance
• Book and claim, and how to guard against double counting
• How to prepare for an audit
• Where certification is heading over the next three to five years

Dario is a chemist who has worked in ISCC's aviation and maritime team since 2022. If you produce, trade or buy SAF, this one is for you.

Certification is the bedrock on which a trustworthy SAF industry is built. Understanding the key factors behind strong traceability is vital and check this episode out to get up to speed. 

If you enjoyed this, check out our free newsletter which you can sign up receive here: https://www.safinvestor.com/newsletter/

This week Oscar is joined by Manshu Agarwal, CEO, HutanBio a UK based company aiming to commercialise the use of Algae as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel production. 

Manshu has watched the algae story play out once already. A chemical engineer by training, he cut his teeth at Sapphire Energy and then Synthetic Genomics — two ventures that between them raised hundreds of millions of dollars chasing algae biofuels, only to run into the same wall: the biology simply wasn't good enough to get costs down. Now at HutanBio, he's back for round two, armed with what he believes is the missing piece.

That piece is Spherica — an entirely new class of algae, discovered after HutanBio's founder spent a decade bioprospecting the oceans, screening a trillion organisms to find roughly 400 candidates and one genuine outlier. Spherica has a thick cell wall and packs around 300 thylakoid layers versus the 6-10 found in typical strains — translating into three times the oil productivity.

Agrawal walks through why that matters commercially: HutanBio is targeting under $1/litre at small scale and around 40 cents/litre (roughly $62/barrel) at full scale, using vertical, low-footprint photobioreactor systems developed first in Malaysia and now being scaled toward coastal deserts, starting with an MOU in Oman. 

He's candid about algae's credibility problem after two decades of hype and underdelivery — but argues the underlying case, heavy transport still has no cost-competitive liquid fuel alternative, hasn't gone away, and that Spherica is the platform that finally gives algae a real shot at cost parity.

Check out the full discussion on your usual podcasting platforms.

On this week's episode of The SAF Podcast, Ryan Jackson, CEO, Cielo Waste Solutions joins Oscar to discuss the company's project platform to constructing SAF projects. 

Jackson unpacks Cielo's flagship Nahoonai project, developed in partnership with the Lheidi T’enneh First Nation through Tano T’enneh Enterprises — a co-ownership structure he argues de-risks permitting and helps unlock financing through Crown corporations like the Canada Infrastructure Bank. 

Alongside the favorable terms this partnership opens up Jackson discusses the project's revenue model and why Canada is in his mind the best place to develop a project, thanks to the stackable federal and state level credits available. This means Cielo can plan to sell their SAF at parity with Jet A1 and then generate the majority of its revenue through these credits. 

We finish the episode by evaluating the realistic decarbonisation targets for aviation to achieve as well as the big challenges that the SAF industry is trying to solve. 

This week Khaled, Ramon and Miguel of Hydrocarbon Engineering join Oscar on The SAF Podcast to tell the story behind their accidental discovery: a reactor built to  produce bio-oil that, instead, yielded a diesel-like hydrocarbon in a single step. 

Years of reverse engineering later, the Valencia-based team has turned that anomaly into a feedstock-agnostic, single-stage hydrothermal process for producing SAF, renewable diesel and other hydrocarbons — one that removes the need for a separate hydrogen source entirely. 

They discuss the ambiguity of self-assessed TRLs, early interest from British Airways/Iberia, a build-and-license commercialisation strategy, and their target of bringing SAF production costs down to around $1,500 per tonne, against today's $6,000–$9,000 range, as they push from TRL 6 towards a first commercial plant at a biomethane site.

For the third year running, Oscar sits down to unpack the 2026 SAF Market Outlook report once again with Mark Kelly (ICF) and this year with Iris Warnaar (SkyNRG).

The headline numbers: SAF demand is forecast to reach 12.8 million tonnes by 2030 (3.6% of jet fuel) and climb past 190 million tonnes by 2050, though US policy headwinds have pulled the near-term forecast down from last year's projections. On supply, 2030 capacity now stands at 18.5 million tonnes, creating a brief surplus before the market tightens again — and Asia has overtaken every other region to lead the global pipeline, largely to feed European demand.

The conversation digs into the HEFA feedstock constraint that still hasn't gone away, genuine, if modest, progress on eSAF and alcohol-to-jet and China's evolving role as both supplier and its own energy security case study. 

The episode closes with the third section of the report, a proper stress-test of the energy security argument that's dominated SAF conversations all year: real driver of investment, or narrative running ahead of the economics? Iris brings the optimism, Mark brings the risk register, and between them the picture that emerges is "positive but uneven" — with plenty left to sort out before the 2027 report rolls around.

If you have not already read the full report you can find it here: https://skynrg.com/2026-saf-market-outlook/

James Hygate, CEO and founder of Firefly, returns to The SAF Podcast for the first time since December 2023 — and a lot has happened. James brings his characteristic blend of technical depth, founder candour, and big-picture ambition to a brilliant wide ranging discussion.  

James opens with a comprehensive update on Firefly's progress: the selection of Turkish engineering firm Altaca as their HTL technology partner, the securing of a site at an existing refinery in Harwich for the downstream hydrotreating facility, and supply agreements with water companies including Severn Trent and Anglian Water that already cover more feedstock than the first facility needs. He also touches on the significance of the Boeing investment, the Builders Vision backing, and the ongoing Series B round that Firefly hopes to close shortly.

James also shares his observations from a recent visit to Shanghai on the pace of Chinese SAF and renewables infrastructure development, the implications of used cooking oil supply being internalised within China, and what lessons — if any — Western developers can draw from "China speed." We also explore the trajectory of the wider SAF industry, James's concerns about policy wobble and its chilling effect on infrastructure capital, and a frank view on whether some SAF projects are gaming mandates rather than genuinely pursuing decarbonisation.

Throughout, James returns to the thread that has defined his 20-year career in low carbon fuels: the only thing worth doing is something that can move the needle on climate change. For Firefly, that means wet-waste-to-jet at gigaton scale — and James believes the technology stack to do it is now in place.

In this episode, Oscar is joined by two guests at the heart of Europe's eSAF scale-up effort: Amy Herbert, Arcadia eFuels, and Thomas Engelmann, KGAL— both key figures within Project SkyPower, the industry coalition to the European Commission to put in place the conditions needed to bring eSAF projects to final investment decision.

Amy opens with an overview of Arcadia eFuels and its flagship Project Endor in Denmark — one of the most advanced eSAF projects in Europe, with FEED complete, permits secured, and an offtake agreement on the verge of being signed. Thomas explains KGAL's role as an infrastructure equity investor — with a stake in Project Endor — giving him a view of the eSAF financing challenge.

The conversation digs into Project SkyPower's ten-point recommendation letter to the European Commission, with a particular focus on the proposed double-sided auction mechanism and the role of H2 Global as a market-making intermediary. We explore why this instrument is seen as critical to breaking the chicken-and-egg deadlock between offtakers and producers — and why the timeline for getting it in place is a source of real concern, given that the 2030 eSAF mandates are fast approaching and greenfield refineries take years to build.

We also have a frank debate on airline competitiveness and the level playing field argument, whether eSAF is being treated fairly given that new fossil refineries would face comparable economics, why renewable electricity cost — not policy complexity — is a fundamental driver of eSAF pricing, and why the question isn't really whether to be optimistic about 2030, but what Plan B looks like if Europe fails to act.

Getting fully behind World Cup fever, SAF Investor is running The SAF World Cup.

Gathering experts from different countries, we will be running a knock out style bracket to find the most promising SAF country in the world. Decided by popular vote!

Whether it is policies, access to capital, offtakers, feedstock access, infrastructure expertise all these will be key discussion points. 

Join for a bit of World Cup fun alongside some serious discussion!

Speakers include:

Trevor Best, Syzygy Plasmonics - Brazil

Philippe Haffner, Haffner Energy - France

Jim Stonecipher, EdyMac - United States of America 

Andrew Symes, OXCCU - England

Izabela Santos, StratX Group - Sweden

Listen to the full webinar on our podcast for some light but informative SAF competition.

In this episode, we sit down with Dan Sutton, CEO and co-founder of Syntholene, to explore their geothermally integrated synthetic fuel production technology currently being developed in Iceland.

Dan explains why geothermal energy is such a compelling foundation for eSAF production, how Syntholene's solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) technology — integrated with Iceland's abundant heat and electricity — creates a step-change in hydrogen cost reduction, and why the company believes it can achieve unit economics competitive with fossil fuels without relying on perpetual subsidies.

 We also explore the independent feasibility study conducted by notable alternative fuels sceptic Robert Rapier, whose findings validated Syntholene's scientific fundamentals while identifying the integration and construction risks that Dan openly acknowledges — and explains how his team is managing them.

The conversation broadens into project development philosophy, the replicability of the Iceland model in geothermally active regions globally and how you manage earthquake and volcano risk, Iceland's strikingly low-bureaucracy environment for infrastructure permitting, and a frank debate on whether European eSAF policy is addressing the real problem — or papering over a fundamental unit economics challenge.

We close with Syntholene's unconventional but deliberate choice to go public on the TSX Venture Exchange — and why Dan believes building in public, with a diversified investor base, gives the company more control over its destiny than the traditional venture capital route.

For the 100th episode of The SAF Podcast, we're joined by Mikala Grubb, Senior Vice President of Technologies, Topsoe — one of the world's leading catalysis and technology companies, whose technology produces an estimated third of all the SAF available globally today.

We start with feedstocks — why the constraints on used cooking oil and animal fats are tightening, what a post-2030 feedstock crunch could look like, and which next-generation feedstock options (from intermediate crops and municipal solid waste to tire-derived feedstocks) are genuinely gaining traction versus those still some way from commercial reality.

We then turn to technology: how Topsoe's HydroFlex HEFA technology became the commercial backbone of today's SAF industry, the role co-processing can play as a pragmatic stepping stone, and why Mikala's advice to developers facing ASTM certification delays is simple — start with renewable diesel and switch when certified. We also explore the ESAF pathway, the importance of the Topsoe-DLR-Sasol demonstration plant currently under construction, and why Topsoe is ready to sign full commercial-scale ESAF contracts today.

Throughout, a clear theme emerges: successful SAF projects are built on feedstock security, offtake certainty, the right partner ecosystem, and a willingness to be pragmatic. 

Happy 100th, The SAF Podcast. Thank you to all the guests we have had over the last 100 episodes and to everyone that has listened!

Adam Forsyth, founder of Longspur Capital joins for the latest episode of The SAF Podcast. A leading voice in clean energy investment, we explore how sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) fits into the broader energy transition — and what it will take to unlock the capital needed to scale it.

Adam draws on decades of experience across equity research, corporate finance, and clean energy advisory to unpack the structural financing challenges unique to SAF: the offtake mismatch, the difficulty of securing long-term airline contracts, and why the "alignment problem" is one of the biggest barriers to reaching final investment decision on advanced fuel projects.

We explore how geopolitical shifts — particularly the fracturing of the post-WWII trade consensus — are reshaping energy investment, introducing a "security premium" that may, in some ways, work in SAF's favour. We also discuss the evolving role of carbon dioxide removal credits, the lessons SAF developers can draw from analogous sectors like grid-scale batteries and green hydrogen, and why the UK's Contract for Difference model offers a potentially powerful template for SAF policy support.

From the prospects of HEFA feedstock constraints and eSAF economics, this is a wide-ranging conversation for anyone working at the intersection of clean energy finance and aviation decarbonisation.

In this episode, we sit down with Alasdair Lumsden, co-founder of Carbon Neutral Fuels, to explore how taking a screwdriver to a VCR led to his time in tech entrepreneurship, which eventually ended up in the world of sustainable aviation fuel. 

Alasdair walks us through the company's Power-to-Liquid e-SAF project, Project Starling — a commercial-scale facility planned for Workington, Cumbria, targeting 25,000 tonnes per year of SAF by 2031.

We dig into the nuts and bolts of CNF's technology stack — solid oxide electrolysis (with Topsoe), Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (Johnson Matthey's FT CANS process), and upgrading technology (Honeywell UOP) — and how CNF is integrating waste heat recovery to improve efficiency and unit economics. 

Alasdair also explains the decision to skip the demo phase and go straight to commercial scale, why their CO2 sourcing strategy shifted from 100% direct air capture to a mix of biogenic sources, and how they secured a 2031 grid connection date by choosing Cumbria over more traditional industrial sites.

On the commercial side, Alasdair discusses how CNF has raised over £11 million to date — including £7.4 million from the UK Advanced Fuels Fund across two rounds — and is now mid-way through a £24 million Series A, targeting patient capital and strategic investors. 

We also cover offtake strategy, the Revenue Certainty Mechanism, the hydrogen policy disconnect, and why Alasdair sees the UK's DFT as a genuine competitive advantage for SAF developers looking to de-risk before expanding internationally.

This week's episode sees Vinesh Sinha, CEO, FatHopes Energy, joins Oscar Henderson for a conversation on the SAF Podcast. 

Vinesh Sinha dropped out of university in 2007, inspired by a Top Gear episode, and built FatHopes Energy into one of Southeast Asia's most sophisticated sustainable fuel feedstock operations — with a digital traceability platform years ahead of the competition.

In this episode, Vinesh talks feedstock aggregation, the realities of scaling a waste-oil supply chain across Southeast Asia, and why FatHopes Energy is now moving into SAF refining with a 300,000-tonne greenfield plant targeting operations by 2030. 

Plus: the truth about POME and palm oil, why AI is the only way to solve traceability at scale, and why Vinesh thinks the SAF industry is dangerously underestimating three things — feedstock, infrastructure, and integrity.

This is a wide ranging conversation and one that digs into the critical components that is helping build Malaysia as a SAF global hub.

Check out the full episode on your favourite platforms or use the link in the comments.

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar is joined by Shubhda Kaushik, managing director & chief executive officer, Alternative Energy Company, to explore what it really takes to move sustainable aviation fuel projects from ambition to final investment decision. Drawing on experience at Standard Chartered, Bain and McKinsey and Maersk, giving her a rounded perspective across finance, strategy and commercial practicality. Shubhda explains why capital for energy transition projects is not scarce, but selective — and why bankability must be built in from day zero.

The conversation also dives into Shubhda’s new book, The Decisive Decade - 2026 Volume I: A Practitioner's Manual - What will it take to win on bankability in the next phase of energy transition.

We explore the core bankability framework behind it: revenue certainty, infrastructure access, execution capability and risk allocation. 

This is just volume I, so if you enjoyed this stay tuned for volume II for a check in on the energy transition's progress.

This is a practical discussion for SAF producers, airlines, investors, lenders and anyone trying to understand why so many projects look promising on paper but struggle to reach financial close.

This episode gives you a great introduction to what is explain at length in the book, which you can find here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Decisive-Decade-Practitioners-bankability-transition/dp/B0GZHQR25T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MEKZBXCEA3ZB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ikEBk10suF88vWdw1KH_CcBNnz9j6PniHNHHDWsie_fENicXTm3b2WClyMPMQ4pLvgKL6EJah0NMTppyB8GMRvqW_nJ3SG99vgYueNEUz1I.rZjcjiPvwirmc57l23MD1XG5HYaUI2osS2EXQErFT6I&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+decisive+decade&qid=1778142508&sprefix=the+decisive+decad%2Caps%2C293&sr=8-1

Noaman Al Adhami, UK Country Head at Alfanar Projects, is this week's guest on The SAF Podcast. 

He joins Oscar for a discussion into Lighthouse Green Fuels — one of the UK’s most closely watched sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects. We begin by looking at why Alfanar chose to initially focus SAF production in the UK and the decisions around site selection.

We then explore what it takes to develop a second-generation SAF project at scale, including the gasification and FT-SPK pathway, feedstock selection, carbon capture, project financing, and the role of the UK SAF mandate in creating the right conditions for investment. 

Noaman also explains why Alfanar is starting with biomass and agricultural residues, how the project could evolve towards more challenging waste feedstocks, the ongoing Carbon Capture application they have recently submitted and how the project has been financed to this point and future plans for financing project construction.

If you want to understand the real-world challenges of scaling advanced SAF production in the UK, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

There is still time to submit your applications for the SAF Investor Deal of the Year Awards, we would love to hear from you about any financing deals that have taken place over the past year, your application can be submitted here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwrzV8VN8oqA6c-e0GMlgZmttTQ-U-1D9XxnOgeeQV-ITeiQ/viewform?usp=header

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar is joined by Patrick Sieb, Managing Partner at Climate Tech Partners, for a conversation on what it really takes to finance and scale sustainable aviation fuel. From Series A climate tech investing to corporate-startup partnerships and the infrastructure challenges behind SAF production, Patrick shares a practical investor’s view on how promising technologies can move from early traction to commercial deployment.

Climate Tech Partners investment model is based on deep due diligence, originating from his time a Macquarie, with focus in Transport, Energy and Mining sectors. 

We dive into a variety of topics including:

• How Climate Tech Partners approaches Series A climate tech investing and why that stage can be critical for SAF and other capital-intensive technologies
• Why bridging the “valley of death” remains one of the biggest challenges for deep tech and aviation decarbonisation startups
• How corporate relationships can help de-risk investments, including Climate Tech Partners’ work with Qantas and Airbus
• The practicalities of running a VC fund, raising capital from LPs and portfolio diversification
• What the dedicated sidecar investment vehicle means for aviation-focused climate technologies and SAF-related opportunities
• Why SAF scale-up depends on much more than strong technology, including the role of feedstock, infrastructure, energy and financing
• What investors are really looking for when assessing techno-economics, commercial traction and science risk
• Why climate tech is shifting from “moonshot” narratives to more pragmatic pathways focused on cost parity and bankability
• How Australia and the wider APAC region could fit into the future of sustainable aviation fuel production and aviation decarbonisation

Also another reminder that we are still accepting applications for the SAF Investor Deal of the Year awards. If you worked on a deal we would love for you to submit it via the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwrzV8VN8oqA6c-e0GMlgZmttTQ-U-1D9XxnOgeeQV-ITeiQ/viewform?usp=header

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar is joined by Nico Nicholas, Co-Founder and CEO of Zeero Group, for a discussion on the commercial and strategic realities of scaling the Hydrothermal Liquefaction SAF pathway. The conversation goes beyond the technical basics to look at how waste-to-fuel projects are financed, how they can be tailored to local infrastructure needs, and why collaboration across sectors may be essential if SAF is to scale at pace.

We dive into a variety of topics including:

• How ZEERO Group is approaching project development, with each facility structured around local waste streams, local infrastructure and location-specific business models
• Why combining waste management and fuel production could create a stronger commercial case for SAF-linked projects
• The financing logic behind these developments, including co-investment models, strategic partners and government-backed support mechanisms
• Why investor confidence and proof of delivery remain critical for emerging pathways looking to move from concept to commercial scale
• The role of certification timelines and regulatory processes in shaping how quickly new SAF pathways can enter the market
• Why scaling SAF may require much deeper collaboration between aviation, municipalities, tourism, shipping and energy stakeholders

This discussion picks up on some key themes from across the SAF industry so is well worth a listen if you are part of the growing ecosystem that is going o make commercial SAF production a global success. We also almost manage to go the whole episode without a crude joke/pun...almost!

We are also currently accepting applications for the SAF Investor Deal of the Year awards. If you have been involved in a financing deal in the last year, we would love to hear about it. You can find the application form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwrzV8VN8oqA6c-e0GMlgZmttTQ-U-1D9XxnOgeeQV-ITeiQ/viewform

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar is joined by Maria Whittaker, Corporate Responsibility Officer at Abra Group — the airline group behind Avianca and GOL, serving nearly 70 million passengers across Latin America.

Maria unpacks the unique challenges and opportunities of scaling sustainable aviation fuel in a region where aviation provides essential connectivity, fuel costs represent up to 40% of operational expenses, and SAF production is still in its earliest stages.

We cover:

🌎 Why Latin America is at a different stage of SAF development than Europe or the US

📋 Brazil's incoming SAF mandate (starting at 1% in 2027, rising to 10% by 2037) 

🤝 Abra's groundbreaking Article 6 collaboration with Sumitomo Corporation to create a book-and-claim SAF export mechanism between Brazil and Japan

💰 The capital and off-take challenges facing SAF producers in the region 

✈️ How Avianca was ranked #1 globally for reducing emissions intensity while growing 

🔮 Maria's vision for the Latin American SAF market by 2030

Whether you're an investor, policymaker, airline professional or SAF producer, this episode offers a compelling window into one of the most dynamic and underexplored SAF markets in the world.

🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, so you never miss an episode.

Kenneth Hill, BioCarbon Strategies joins us for this episode of The SAF Podcast as we knee deep in the alphabet soup of North American tax policy. 

Ken brings unique insight as a former U.S. Department of Energy financing official who worked on projects like Montana Renewables and Gevo, combined with current experience vetting SAF projects and advising investors on bankability across the US, Canada, and emerging markets.

Key Topics Covered:

🇺🇸 US SAF Market Grade: From B+ (one year ago) to C+/B- today—a setback driven by policy uncertainty, funding challenges, and administration headwinds. Ken explains why the trajectory is shifting back toward optimism in 2026.

📋 The SAF Act (Securing America's Fuel Bill): A bipartisan proposal restoring the $1.75/gallon bonus credit, extending availability retroactively, and creating crucial market certainty. Why passage by November 2024 matters for stability and investment confidence.

🌾 Farm Bill SAF Support: How the 5-year agriculture bill (currently 3 years overdue) addresses feedstock supply chain enablement and USDA loan guarantees up to $250 million. The critical difference between supply-side support and direct financing.

💰 45-Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit: The shift from blender's credits to production credits—and why guidance from the U.S. Treasury expected by summer 2026 is critical to project financing.

🏛️ Investment Tax Credits vs. Production Tax Credits: Ken explains the investor preference for investment credits ($600M upfront on a $2B project) over production credits (ongoing incentives that risk expiration). Why the structure matters enormously for capital deployment.

🇨🇦 CANADIAN POLICY DEEP DIVE: The Biofuels Production Incentive as a bridge to help producers survive the shift from the US blenders credit to production credit. The $15 billion CAD Canada Growth Fund for green projects. Also, Ken explains the expected amendments for the Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR).

🔑 Permitting as the Bottleneck: The often-overlooked critical issue in both US and Canadian project development. Why streamlined permitting is essential for scaling—and how power generation permit timelines (6 years) exceed solar build times (24 months).

💼 Bankability Requirements in 2026: Why projects today need multiple stacks working simultaneously—price stack (credits + subsidies), offtake stack (airlines + carbon buyers), and feedstock stack.

🌍 Global Demand & Carbon Markets: Why voluntary corporate buyers are as critical as policy mandates. The mix needed: government incentives, mandates, voluntary carbon markets, and offtake diversity to derisk projects.

🚀 North American Momentum: Why 2026 is the pivotal year—with clarity on SAF Act, Farm Bill, 45-Z guidance, and Canadian CFR amendments all expected. The potential bounce-back from 2025's lull to accelerated deployment post-2027.

This episode of The SAF Podcast sees Jan Toschka, CEO at Zaffra, join Oscar for a wide ranging discussion on the potential of eSAF and the Power-to-Liquid pathway.

Jan brings 27 years of energy sector experience—including leading Shell Aviation as its president—to his role building Zaffra, a 50/50 joint venture between Sasol and Tops. Together, they're leveraging their technology expertise and project development experience to commercialize eSAF.

Key Topics Covered:

🇩🇪 The Concrete Chemicals Flagship Project: A 40,000-ton e-SAF facility in Brandenburg, Germany, powered by local renewable wind energy and green hydrogen. Why this project captures the entire German 2030 mandate potential and how €350 million in state funding was negotiated to bridge the cost competitiveness gap.

🌍 Global Site Selection & Project Development: From Spain (with partner Moeve) to the Nordics (abundant renewable electricity) to China (cost-competitive locations), Zaffra's portfolio-based approach to scaling SAF production. Why bespoke project solutions are evolving toward scalable, duplicable models.

⚡ Feedstock Security & Hydrogen Infrastructure: How Zaffra secures green hydrogen through local wind farms, electrolyser projects, and emerging hydrogen pipeline networks—critical to both project financing and operational resilience.

🤝 The Power of Shareholder Credibility: Why Sasol and Topsoe's proven track record—with Fischer-Tropsch technology deployed in 4 out of 10 SAF plants globally—accelerates project development, partner engagement, and capital raising.

💰 Financing the First-of-a-Kind Projects: The critical challenge of proving bankability for novel eSAF projects and how technology credibility, project delivery experience, and operational expertise unlock institutional and commercial capital.

🏛️ The Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP) & Double-Sided Auctions: How Europe's latest policy framework is reshaping market dynamics. Jan explains the mechanics of double-sided auctions: a state-funded midstream entity bridges the gap between producers needing 10-year security and offtakers wanting flexibility as costs decline.

📈 Cost Curves & Learning Economics: Drawing parallels to solar's 15x cost reduction in 25 years, Jan argues e-SAF costs will follow predictable learning curves once the industry gains scale and momentum—but only if players commit to entering the market now.

✈️ Leveling the Playing Field: The crucial policy conversation around European airline competitiveness, international jurisdiction alignment, and how SAF costs—estimated at €5-7 per intra-European ticket by 2035—are trivial compared to other travel expenses.

This is a fantastic listen to really understand the practical challenges of developing eSAF production and how an ecosystem focused approach is crucial to pushing projects through to FID and commercial production.

Huge thank you to Jan for being so generous with his time and bringing such clarity to this discussion. 

In this episode, we dive deep into the financing challenges and solutions driving the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry forward with Mahesh Roy, Programme Director, SAF at the Green Finance Institute. 

Mahesh shares his unique journey from accidental banking career in Australia to leading green finance initiatives across the UK and EU. He explains what makes SAF fundamentally different from renewable energy industries and why the financing requirements are so complex.

Key Topics Covered:

✈️ Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project Finance: Understanding venture-scale risk with infrastructure-sized capital requirements, the role of EPC wraps, warranties, and technology licensing challenges

💰 Revenue Certainty Mechanisms (RCM): Why the UK's guaranteed strike price model and EU's double-sided auctions are critical to bankability and market creation

🚀 SAF Accelerators: How project accelerators de-risk first-of-a-kind projects by quantifying residual risks across EPC, feedstock, and offtake categories

🏭 Project Delivery Risk: The need for innovative risk transfer mechanisms including public finance solutions, insurance products, and export credit agency involvement

⚡ Hydrogen and E-SAF Scalability: The importance of joined-up thinking on green electrons, hydrogen production, and feedstock availability

🌍 Policy & Capital Deployment: Why government commitment to mandates and revenue certainty mechanisms is driving institutional investment in SAF projects

Learn why the first wave of projects getting to final investment decision (FID) will be critical to unlocking billions in commercial and institutional capital, and discover which emerging SAF production pathways could transform aviation decarbonization.

If you enjoy the podcast you can also check out our weekly newsletter with in depth interviews with some more of the major players in scaling SAF. Similar to the podcast, but in written form! Sign up to receive it here: https://info.corporatejetinvestor.com/saf-investor-newsletter-sign-up

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar sits down with Chris Chaput — a former Northwest Airlines executive, Morgan Stanley investment banker, and airline restructuring specialist — to unpack how DG Fuels is not just developing a SAF project, but a SAF platform.

We cover:

• DG Fuels' gasification-to-Fischer-Tropsch technology and their patented 97–98% carbon conversion efficiency
• How strategically building your partners (Johnson Matthey, Honeywell, NextChem) and EPC (Samsung & Black & Veatch) underwrites bankability and execution.
• Why their Louisiana facility on the Mississippi River is strategically positioned for both US and European markets
• Long-term offtake agreements already signed with Delta, Air France, and KLM — and why demand outpaces what one facility can produce
• How ~25% of their output may qualify as eSAF under EU RefuelEU regulations, unlocking premium pricing
• The IRA tax credit landscape (45V, 45Q, 45Y), RINs, LCFS, and how DG Fuels' revenue stack holds up under policy uncertainty
• A $750M equity raise, FID targets for 2025, and what it means to build a SAF platform — not just a project
• Why resilience has been their biggest challenge, and their greatest achievement

This is a fascinating discussion and highlights how both strategy and strong identity makes a strong prospect in SAF.

This week's episode of The SAF Podcast sees Clive Gibson and Connie Lo from FGE NexantECA join Oscar.

This episode is a must listen if you want a blueprint of how to develop a SAF project, what separates investable SAF projects from optimistic slide decks.

Hot off the back of FGE NexantECA's feasibility study with Fathopes Energy completing. Clive breaks down feasibility as a set of parallel workstreams—commercial, technical, ESG, and funding—designed to converge on a real FID, not just a “bankable” buzzword.

Connie also highlights technologies that she is excited about and why strategically locating projects that align technology and feedstock is so vital. 

We also discuss the benefits of vertically integrating facilities, the requirements of ecosystem alignment are important to acceleration, and the need to address fragmented registries for transparent emissions reporting. 

We end by finding out where the exciting regions are for Clive and Connie (spoiler alert - there are a lot of them!) and what makes them so exciting. 

If you enjoyed this you can hear more from FGE NexantECA as Clive will be speaking at SAF Investor London, running on the 24th-25th February. He will be joining our panel looking at balancing regional and global development. 

We will also be joined by Clive's Colleague Mais Haddadin who will be moderating a panel on Governments crowding in capital with speakers from Austrade, Green Finance Institute, UK Export Finance and UK National Wealth Fund. 

Both should be fantastic discussions so, if you enjoyed the podcast join us in London. To find out more click here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/148588/saf-investor-london-2026-2/

This week Dana Shoukroun, Invest Through Flying is our guest on The SAF Podcast. 

The conversation is a wide ranging one covering the cost of compliance, why purchasing SAF now will pay dividends in the future and how growing SAF has to go beyond what is dictated by EU Mandates. We also find out which scientists need lab coats.

We move onto the potential of nuclear as an energy source for synthetic SAF production. Dana explains the exciting potential and we discuss the obvious challenges it faces in terms of regulation and public opinion. 

We finish this episode with some Any Other Business looking at what in the industry current is getting Dana's goat and what she is excited about. 

Hope you enjoy and if you want to hear more from Dana you can at SAF Investor London on the 24th-25th February, find out more here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/148588/saf-investor-london-2026-2/

This week Natasha Mann, Future Energy Global (FEG) comes back on the Podcast to discuss her busy last few years, we wrap up SAF in 2025 and look forward to what to expect from 2026. 

We begin by looking at all the deals FEG have signed over the last two since since its founding in 2024. Offtakes with corporates and airlines, the importance of voluntary scope 3 customers to industry scale, how aggregating demand is a crucial component of scaling SAF production and availability globally, and how this can only grow if the supply chain for the scope 1 emissions is also in place. 

Natasha gives her rating out of 10 for the SAF industry in 2025, shares some of her highlights from the year and the headwinds that the industry had to work against, especially in the US. We also attempt to pin her down on her favourite region in 2025. Have to listen to find out what she chose. 

We end the episode with a look at 2026, what we can expect from FEG in 2026 and her expectations for global industry development in the year ahead. Natasha also gives us her New Year's resolutions for 2026.  

You can catch more of Future Energy Global at SAF Investor London on the 24th-25th February, so if you are a producer, airline, corporate customer is a great place to connect with their team. Find out more here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/148588/saf-investor-london-2026-2/

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar is joined by Mike Fulton, Project Aircraft Engineer at FedEx and widely known as “The SAF Guy,” for a deep-dive conversation on how one of the world’s largest cargo airlines is approaching sustainable aviation fuel at scale.

With more than 700 aircraft, making it the world's largest dedicated cargo fleet. Operations in over 220 countries, and aviation responsible for around 80% of its carbon footprint, FedEx sits at the sharp end of aviation decarbonisation. Mike explains how SAF fits into FedEx’s broader goal of achieving carbon-neutral operations by 2040, alongside fleet modernisation, operational efficiency and the use of durable carbon solutions.

The discussion explores FedEx’s recent SAF offtake agreements in the United States, including partnerships at Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare and Miami, and why higher SAF blending percentages deliver both greater carbon reductions and more favourable economics. Mike also offers rare insight into the realities of SAF pricing, fuel cost sensitivity, and why long-term offtake agreements alone have not been enough to unlock widespread project finance.

Listeners will gain a candid perspective on why brownfield conversions are currently outperforming greenfield SAF projects, how supply-chain risk is managed, and the growing importance of carbon “insets” and environmental attributes for corporate customers.

We kick off 2026 on the podcast with a great conversation with Nicolas Guillaume and Louis Lammertyn from BookBetter. 

The platform integrates sustainability costs directly into flight pricing, offering travelers 100% SAF options and alternative transport modes like trains when more sustainable. Unlike traditional airline booking systems that add SAF as an optional extra at checkout, BookBetter prioritizes transparency from the first search, using third-party registries to verify environmental claims and provide customers with detailed certificates.

The discussion delves into critical industry issues including the psychological barriers of SAF pricing, the importance of additionality in carbon reduction claims, and why current booking platforms inadvertently penalise airlines making sustainability efforts.

Wishing everyone a great 2026 in what is set to be another crucial year for SAF market development. 

The final episode of 2025 brings a fresh perspective as The SAF Podcast welcomes its first Academic, Alon Lidor from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory).

Alon shares his fascinating journey from aerospace engineering to sustainable aviation fuel research, including his work on solar-driven thermochemical processes at ETH Zurich and his current role at NLR. The conversation explores his groundbreaking research on chemical looping technology for syngas production, which promises to overcome traditional reverse water-gas shift reaction limitations and significantly reduce downstream separation costs in SAF production.

A highlight of the episode is Alon's insights from interviewing over 80 industry stakeholders through the Department of Energy's Energy I-Corps program. He reveals findings about the SAF industry's biggest challenges, including funding and bankability concerns that outweigh technical barriers, and the underestimated complexity of scaling pilot plants to commercial production.

The discussion examines the crucial relationship between academia, national laboratories, and industry in advancing sustainable aviation fuel technologies. Alon explains how national labs like NLR provide essential infrastructure and expertise to help early-stage companies de-risk their technologies, offering capabilities that would be prohibitively expensive for startups to build independently.

Listeners gain valuable insights into techno-economic analysis, regional policy differences between US incentive-based approaches and European mandate-driven frameworks, and the timeline for Alon's three-year research project developing next-generation SAF production technology.

Thank you so much to everyone that has listened over the last year and some exciting things to come in 2026!

To find out more about the SAF Investor London conference check out the website here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/148588/saf-investor-london-2026-2/

On this week's episode of The SAF Podcast Chris Hancock, Avioxx joins Oscar to share their waste-to-fuel technology and their UK project development strategy. 

Chris begins by sharing his journey from fintech entrepreneur to cleantech innovator, explaining some of the parallels between the early days of fintech and today's nascent SAF industry.

We also dive into Avioxx's off-grid approach integrating Fischer-Tropsch reactors with solid oxide fuel cells, enabling the plant to generate its own electricity and potentially achieve an 80% reduction in electricity costs. The result aims to tackle the two hardest cost drivers in SAF—purchased power and hydrogen balance—while building a real circular economy around waste.

Integrating AI and digital infrastructure is a fulcrum of Avioxx's expansion to accelerate design timelines, reduce costs, and mitigate risks. Chris explains how this feeds into their UK focused expansion plans from a small scale demonstrator, to a mid-scale plant producing 5,000 tonnes per year, up to a 32,000 tonne per year facility consuming 300,000 tonnes of waste each year.

We finish by discussing capital raising, the pre-seed investment from Trailfinders and the current ongoing raise for their Series A-B rounds. Chris explains the types of capital they are looking to attract in the balancing of equity and senior debt. 

Check out the full episode to find out more on whatever site you prefer to frequent. 

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson sits down with Hamid, Francis and Sergio from Nexen Biosystems to explore one of the most unconventional and interesting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstocks emerging today: tequila bagasse.

With what seems like every celebrity wanting to start a tequila brand. The market over recent years has boomed, creating an abundant amount of year round feedstock.  Tequila production is tightly concentrated by denomination rules, so residues are steady, local, and available at favorable terms because they’re a disposal headache for distillers. Agave bagasse is pre-cooked and pressed during tequila making, which can reduce pre-treatment intensity compared to raw crop waste.

We dig into Nexen's strategy: 18 months of R&D at a Canadian lab to tune pre-treatment and conversion steps, followed by a Mexico-based pilot to validate logistics, contracts, and costs at scale. Along the way we talk policy reality—strong Canadian support for clean-tech research, Mexico’s push to manage tequila waste and align with global SAF goals.

We also discuss the challenge of raising capital in the R&D stage before building a demonstration and pilot plants. Finding investors that are comfortable with the risk profile all aspects of developing a SAF facility is crucial for Nexen as investors bring much more to the table than just capital. 

Sit back, grab a tequila (think of the feedstock) and listen to this episode and find out about the potential of tequila bagasse as a feedstock and how Nexen are planning on utilizing it for SAF production. 

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson welcomes back Gorka Penalva, Exolum, to discuss the company’s latest milestone — the launch of its new SAF blending facility at Redcliffe Bay in the UK. Gorka shares how Exolum is transforming its legacy fuel infrastructure to support a low-carbon future and reveals the vision behind what they’re calling the “SAF Superhighway.”

Exolum is taking bold steps forward in the SAF market, moving beyond the traditional wait-and-see approach that has characterized much of the industry. As an independent storage company operating over 2,000 kilometers of pipeline infrastructure that handles 40% of the UK's jet fuel, they're uniquely positioned to accelerate SAF adoption. Their decision to self-finance the Redcliffe Bay blending facility demonstrates a proactive approach to building the infrastructure needed to meet growing demand and regulatory mandates.

This episode delves into the practical challenges of adapting post-war infrastructure for modern sustainable fuel blending, the benefits of pipeline transportation versus road transport for both emissions and cost, and the critical role of both national and local government support in developing SAF infrastructure. Gorka shares insights on Exolum's year-long development process, their plans to expand blending facilities across multiple UK import locations, and how they're leveraging experience from their operations in Spain, Amsterdam, and Germany.

Gorka explains why the team chose internal financing to accelerate timelines, how a two-year concept-to-commission journey unfolded, and where the “SAF superhighway” goes next.

Policy and logistics converge here. National mandates frame the destination, while local leaders help clear the path. We discuss why both levels of government matter, what reliable imports mean for producers, and how pipelines can cut emissions and reduce congestion versus road transport. This equates to nearly 200,000 trucks. Nose to tail that would be enough to stretch the entire coastline of Great Britain.

 Looking ahead 12–24 months, Exolum is mapping additional blending sites, aligning with import corridors, and engaging stakeholders, with external capital on the table for future phases. If you care about scaling SAF supply, reducing logistics emissions, and giving airports dependable access to blended fuel, this conversation lays out a grounded plan to get there.

If you want more of the back story on Exolum, listen to our first episode from earlier in the year here: https://www.safinvestor.com/podcast/146997/the-saf-podcast-exolum-throwing-saf-a-pipeline/

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Diana Birkett Rakow, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Alaska Airlines and incoming CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, joins Oscar for a deep dive into how the airlines are shaping their SAF strategy and how it plays into overall emissions reductions ambitions. 

We dig into Alaska’s five-part path to net zero by 2040—operational efficiency, fleet renewal, SAF, new propulsion and airframes, and only then high-quality removals—and why the middle lever, sustainable aviation fuel, is the one that can move emissions at scale this decade.

We also discuss how potentially the role of the airline in scaling SAF is changing, traditional offtakes alone won’t unlock the market. Agreements with Neste, World Energy, Cosmo Oil and Philips 66 get molecules of SAF into the ring, but are not having the desired fly wheel effect of indicating the level of demand to scale production. 

Diana highlights the real change will come from building deep partnerships with early stage producers developing new technologies, such as Twelve and AIRCO alongside investments from their Alaska Star Ventures investment arm.  

This has been expanded with the new $150 million fund launched with Breakthrough Energy Ventures and oneworld Alliance partners, designed to identify and scale next-generation SAF technologies. With deep technical expertise and a global lens, the fund targets pathways that can scale, hit strong carbon intensity scores, and compete on cost

We also look at the more regional scale work being done in Hawaii with the Par Hawaii. There is a real drive to build out renewable energy security highlighted by the  $90 million investment in renewable fuel production and trials of camelina as a locally-grown feedstock.

Hot off the heels of their public announcement, Mel Courtney, Catagen is the latest guest on The SAF Podcast. 

We discuss the spinning out of Catagen ClimaHtech Green Flight, utilizing the technology honed in the 15 years of emissions testing, for their modular sustainable aviation fuel facilities through electrified reverse water gas shift Fischer-Tropsch. 

Unlike conventional centralized refineries, their modular approach produces between one and ten million liters of neat SAF annually, designed to co-locate with existing renewable energy infrastructure. This strategy unlocks untapped potential from smaller wind farms across the UK and Europe that typically go underutilized by large-scale industrial operations.

We break down Catagen's financing strategy. Government grants helped reach TRL 7. Currently they are engaged in a SAFE note equity raise before opening up to a pre-FID £18m equity round. This is followed by a planned project investment bringing the total to £60m.

This small amount of investment compared to large centralised facilities is one of the benefits Mel highlights of the modular strategy. Others include the ability to co-locate with renewable energy infrastructure, feedstocks or airports offering great operational flexibility. 

We touch on the recent off take announcements from the launch with Ryanair and Shell Aviation Ireland, emphasising how modular SAF facilities can suit airline economics for regional carriers. 

If listening to the facility description wasn't enough you can see it via the link here: https://climahtechgreenflight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025.08.07_catagen_digital_launch_v4_subtitled-540p.mp4 

This week on The SAF Podcast Kata Cserep and Salem Esber, PA Consulting join Oscar to discuss the recent Cacophony to Symphony: Successfully Scaling Sustainable Aviation Fuel report. 

With nearly 600 survey participants spanning airlines, airports, fuel producers, investors, and policymakers, the report reveals critical challenges in scaling SAF—most notably fragmentation across the ecosystem, cost barriers, and policy misalignment. Kata, an aviation strategist, and Salem, an energy and finance specialist, bring complementary perspectives on how aviation and energy must converge to unlock commercial-scale SAF.

The conversation emphasizes that while no single stakeholder has solved the SAF scaling challenge, there's significant optimism and willingness to collaborate across the ecosystem. We discuss the belief blame graph to stress the importance of looking beyond individual niches to find cross-sector solutions, highlighting emerging innovations in project structures, risk allocation, and demand aggregation that could accelerate sustainable aviation fuel adoption globally.

Key topics include regional policy differences between the US and UK approaches, with the UK taking a more collaborative industry consultation model while US policy appears more fragmented and uncertain. We discuss innovative financing structures, the role of major airlines with strong balance sheets in driving early adoption, and the development of PA Consulting's cost of decarbonization tool that helps airlines calculate long-term financial impacts.

You can read the full report via the link here to see the insight in literary and pictoral forms: https://www.paconsulting.com/industries/transport/aviation/scaling-sustainable-aviation-fuel

This week Matti Lievonen, EcoCeres joins Oscar on The SAF Podcast. Matti shares insights from his illustrious career from the transition from traditional refining at Neste to pioneering renewable fuel production in the rapidly expanding Asian SAF market.

The conversation reveals the company's innovative approach to feedstock traceability, managing relationships with over 100,000 restaurants for used cooking oil collection, and their breakthrough "easy tracer" technology that tracks feedstock origins down to individual 30-kilogram contributions.

This startup mentality, backed by significant investment from Bain Capital, has enabled rapid expansion with facilities in China and Malaysia collectively producing over 700,000 tons annually.

The discussion explores critical industry challenges including feedstock security, the potential impact of China's anticipated SAF mandates in their upcoming five-year plan, and the complex dynamics between regional production and global supply chains. Lievonen addresses the tension between Europe's preference for local production versus Asia's capacity for large-scale, cost-effective manufacturing and export.

Key topics include strategic partnerships with airlines like British Airways, the role of private equity investment from Bain Capital and Kerogen Capital, and the urgent need for policy harmonization across regions to accelerate SAF adoption. Lievonen also discusses consumer education challenges, cost reduction strategies through novel feedstock development, and the collaborative ecosystem approach needed to achieve aviation's 2050 decarbonization targets.

Despite current cost barriers, Lievenen remains optimistic about SAF's future: "If you think about the time track, SAF has been now like five years old. If you think about fossil fuel, it's 100 years old. So we have time, and I'm sure we could find a way to make SAF very competitive but also well-used." Through collaboration across airlines, suppliers, and governments, the vision of truly sustainable aviation feels increasingly within reach.

This week on The SAF Podcast we turn both eyes and ears to Asia with the three founders of the Asian SAF Association, Fabrice Espinosa, Gabriel Ho and Dietmar Posselt. Covering 48 vastly differing countries from the Middle East across to APAC, ASAFA aim is to promote production levels to decarbonise the regions growing aviation footprint.

Rather than waiting for perfect policy frameworks, Asian countries are taking practical steps forward, setting achievable targets that create immediate momentum. This cultural pragmatism, coupled with abundant feedstock resources and growing refining capacity, positions Asia to potentially leapfrog other regions in sustainable aviation development.

The conversation explores the unique challenges of Asia's diverse landscape - from feedstock traceability issues to financing innovative technologies. While mature HEFA processes using waste oils are gaining substantial investment, newer pathways utilizing regional resources like cassava-based ethanol and agricultural waste require additional support. The founders detail how they're working to mobilize capital through partnerships with development banks and create harmonized standards that could eventually unify the region's approach.

Southeast Asia emerges as a particular hotspot, with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam all developing significant production capacity that could contribute over 2 million tons of SAF within 5-8 years. Meanwhile, India's renewed focus on biofuels and ethanol production signals another major growth area. These developments are supported by a wave of national policies, with Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Korea all set to announce SAF targets or mandates.

Anyone involved in SAF globally has one eye on Asia, so check out the full discussion to find out in detail the updates and trends across the region. 

SAF Investor New York is in two weeks on the 23rd September, it is still not too late to join us, so don't miss out and book your place here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0mv63z0

Ever wondered what MI6 was evaluating after World War II that could help solve our aviation climate crisis today? The answer lies in a century-old technology that's experiencing a remarkable revival.

Peter-Paul Langerak of Gidara Energy joins us this week to take us through the evolution of High Temperature Winkler (HTW) gasification technology – from its 1920s origins through its refinement during WWII to its commercial deployment in the 1990s producing biomethanol from waste. Now owned by Gidara Energy, this technology offers a proven solution for converting municipal waste, biomass, and agricultural residues into clean syngas that can become sustainable aviation fuel.

What sets this approach apart is its commercial readiness. While much attention focuses on early-stage technologies, HTW gasification has already operated at scale, processing 500-1,000 tons of waste daily into valuable products. This sweet spot balances economic viability with practical feedstock logistics – smaller plants struggle financially while larger ones face insurmountable waste collection challenges.

Peter-Paul discusses the challenges of scaling projects, particularly feedstock logistics, permitting, and financing, and highlights how Gidara works with project developers and investors to bring projects from concept to final investment decision (FID).

The conversation shifts to Gidara's strategic pivot toward technology licensing, driven by urgent market demand for alternative SAF pathways as HVO/HEFA production approaches feedstock limitations by 2030. This urgency catalyzed the formation of the SAF Technology Alliance – a groundbreaking partnership between Gidara Energy, Samsung E&A, Johnson Matthey, and UOP Honeywell offering integrated, turnkey solutions from waste to wing.

Listen to the end to find out what Peter-Paul considers to be the biggest industry misconceptions when it comes to SAF technology licensing. 

Ready to connect with the innovators and investors making sustainable aviation a reality? Join us September 23rd in New York for an exclusive industry gathering where you'll meet the people and technologies driving us toward our 2050 targets. Find out more here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0mv63z0

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, David Lloyd from Emerging Fuel Technology joins Oscar to discuss sustainable aviation fuel production, biogas feedstocks, and the challenges of scaling renewable fuel projects. Lloyd, a former airline strategy executive turned SAF technology entrepreneur, shares his transition from Qantas to the emerging fuels sector and explains why biogas represents an untapped opportunity in sustainable aviation fuel production.

The conversation explores Fischer-Tropsch technology's century-long history, from World War Two applications to its modern applications in renewable fuel production. Lloyd argues that biogas and renewable natural gas offer significant advantages over traditional SAF feedstocks, potentially providing 30% of US jet fuel supply from existing landfills alone. He challenges conventional thinking about project scale, advocating for smaller, replicable facilities rather than massive billion-dollar plants that face lengthy development cycles and higher risks.

Key topics include the economics of different SAF pathways, the role of government mandates versus subsidies in driving adoption, and why the "green premium" terminology may need revision. Lloyd discusses power-to-liquid fuels, comparing eSAF production costs with biosynthetic alternatives, and examines how renewable natural gas infrastructure creates opportunities for distributed SAF production.

The episode addresses critical industry challenges including capital expenditure optimization, investor expectations, and the technology valley of death that many startups face. Lloyd's insights on replicating successful models from the ethanol industry provide valuable perspectives on scaling sustainable aviation fuel production efficiently while managing financial and technical risks in the rapidly evolving clean energy sector.

If you enjoy this join us for SAF Investor New York on 23rd September as part of New York Climate Week. Find out more here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0mv63z0

This week on The SAF Podcast we are joined by Greg Constantine, Co-Founder & CEO, AIRCO (Formerly Air Company). 

Originally from Australia, Greg explains the strategy behind building out technology development from revenue generating consumer products like carbon negative Vodka, hand sanitizer and perfume building towards production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. This allows for ongoing revenue generation and less reliance on raising outside investment. 

Constantine explains their technology-licensing business model, contrasting it with the capital-intensive mega-project approaches favored by many competitors in the power-to-liquid (PTL) space. This strategy allows them to avoid massive FID funding rounds while still scaling sustainable aviation fuel production globally.

Their strong partnerships with the US military have provided rigorous testing opportunities across air, land, and marine vehicles, validating their technology beyond what's possible in purely commercial settings. After closing a $70 million Series B funding round with strategic investors including JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and Toyota Ventures, AIRCO is positioning itself as a technology provider rather than a large-scale fuel producer—focusing on licensing their technology to established operators who can scale production globally.

Constantine also discusses the challenges of balancing emissions reduction with cost competitiveness in the eSAF market, where fuels can cost seven times more than conventional jet fuel. The conversation then moves to feedstock flexibility, policy implications for e-fuels development and which policy structures he finds most practical. 

Check out the full conversation to find out more. 

Want to learn more about sustainable aviation fuel investment opportunities? Join us at the SAF Investor New York conference on September 23rd during New York Climate Week. Find out more information here: https://www.safinvestor.com/event/148108/saf-investor-new-york-2025-new/

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson speaks with Gianluca Ambrosetti, CEO and co-founder of Synhelion, to explore the future of solar fuels and their role in scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. Synhelion’s pioneering thermochemical process converts CO₂ and biomass-derived carbon into renewable liquid fuels using high-temperature solar heat and thermal energy storage—delivering continuous, 24/7 production without relying on costly green hydrogen.

Gianluca shares his journey from physicist to clean-energy entrepreneur, explains the technical differences between solar fuels, e-fuels, and biofuels, and details how Synhelion’s technology achieves high carbon efficiency and cost-competitive production targets—potentially under €1 per litre at commercial scale. The discussion covers their Dawn pilot plant in Germany, which integrates both concentrated solar power and photovoltaic-powered heating, enabling full end-to-end SAF production and critical scale-up learning.

We also examine feedstock strategies, including biomethane and CO₂ utilisation, location selection for optimal solar conditions, and the logistics of transporting high-energy-density fuels globally with minimal emissions. Gianluca outlines Synhelion’s scale-up roadmap, including intermediate commercial steps to de-risk investment, the importance of strategic and institutional partnerships, and the role of policy frameworks, mandates, and debt guarantees in financing large-scale SAF facilities.

If you enjoy the podcast, join us at SAF Investor New York where we are bringing together industry leaders to discuss the critical issues around accelerating capital deployment in SAF production. We would love to see as many of you there! You can register through the following link: https://corporate-jet-investor.myshopify.com/collections/saf-investor-new-york

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, we sit down with Martin Forman, Director at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), to explore the challenges and opportunities in financing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects. With a background spanning energy M&A, hydrogen, CCS, and biofuels, Martin brings a pan-European and global view on decarbonisation finance.

We discuss why Japanese institutions—particularly trading houses and banks—have become such active SAF investors, and how Japan’s domestic SAF mandates are triggering large-scale international investments. Martin explains SMBC’s strategic interest across the SAF value chain, from project lending to aircraft leasing and storage infrastructure, and outlines what makes a SAF project attractive from a lender's perspective.

The conversation dives deep into equity versus debt in project finance, the challenges of funding first-of-a-kind SAF technologies, and the growing importance of public-private partnerships. Martin shares candid insights on why equity—more than debt—is the bottleneck, and how regulation, price certainty, and government support mechanisms like Project SkyPower are critical for unlocking financing and achieving 2030 mandate targets.

Finally, Forman discusses SMBC's preference for club lending arrangements, strategic sponsors over financial investors, and the importance of proximity to feedstock sources. 

If you enjoyed this discussion check out our previous episode with Richard Mathers, Honeywell here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17475885

In this episode of The SAF Podcast we are joined by Richard Mathers, Senior Director of Business Development at Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions, for an in-depth exploration of Honeywell’s expanding role in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology. 

If you follow any form of SAF news, you will have heard of Honeywell given their announcements of the ongoing $1.8bn all cash acquisition of Johnson Matthey's Catalyst Technology solutions business and the formation of the SAF Alliance alongside Johnson Matthey, Samsung Electronics E&A, GIDARA Energy. These collaborations aim to streamline project delivery, reduce capital expenditure by up to 10%, and accelerate project timelines by 15%. 

First, Richard walks us through Honeywell’s approach to technology licensing, project financing, and feedstock flexibility across multiple SAF pathways—including HEFA, ethanol-to-jet, methanol-to-jet (eFining), and FT-Unicracking.

Richard explains the critical role technology licensors play beyond just providing technology – from performance guarantees and warranties to supporting project finance and reducing perceived risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Richard provides valuable insights into technology licensing benefits, project financing considerations, and how Honeywell's evolutionary approach to proven technologies helps de-risk SAF production investments.

If you enjoyed this discussion check out our previous episode with SKyNRG and ICF discussing their recent Global Market Outlook report here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17435560

This week's SAF Podcast is our now annual deep dive into the global SAF Market Outlook from SkyNRG and ICF. This year we were joined by Anna Liznerova, SkyNRG and Mark Kelly, ICF. After weeks of late nights and weekends on this extra curricular project they share key insights and methodologies from the report.

The conversation kicks off with the key takeaways from the report notably, Europe's role as the backbone of SAF demand with strong mandates requiring over one million tonnes in 2025, rising to four million tonnes by 2030. Despite Europe driving demand, it represents only 18% of global jet fuel uplift, highlighting the critical need for policy development beyond European borders.

Another major takeaway is Asia's remarkable growth, now accounting for nearly 30% of announced SAF capacity by 2030, overtaking Europe and trailing only the United States. The rise raising important questions about feedstock diversion, sustainability concerns, and potential fraud in waste oil supplies from the region.

The discussion delves into demand modeling challenges, examining three scenarios ranging from pessimistic, realistic and optimistic outlooks through 2050. Mark explains the methodology behind forecasting policy-driven versus voluntary corporate demand, while Anna details SkyNRG's production mapping approach across nearly 400 global projects.

The final and new section of the report, Mark and Anna give an overview of the "HEFA tipping point" – when demand for HEFA based SAF will exceed available sustainable feedstocks, likely around 2030-2031. This timeline creates urgency for advancing alternative pathways like e-fuels, which face their own regulatory and economic challenges. The experts navigate the complex interplay between policy design, investor confidence, technical feasibility, and sustainability imperatives that will determine SAF's future.

What emerges is a nuanced picture: despite delays and setbacks, the industry continues moving forward, though perhaps not as rapidly as hoped. The coming years will be critical for project development, particularly for facilities using advanced technologies beyond conventional HEFA. 

With the amount of developments globally in SAF, is 30 pages enough to cover the ground or does it need extending to a 200 page thesis?

Check out the full report here, it is well worth a read: https://skynrg.com/safmo25/

If you enjoyed this check out our previous discussion with Jim Stonecipher, EdyMac about the lessons industry can learn from failed projects like Fulcrum BioEnergy: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17395177

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, we are joined by Jim Stonecipher, Managing Director at EdyMac and former executive at Fulcrum BioEnergy. 

With over 30 years of chemical engineering experience, Jim offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at Fulcrum's high-profile journey—from promise to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company's ambitious vision to convert municipal solid waste into sustainable aviation fuel represented a promising technological pathway, but faced numerous obstacles—from COVID-related supply chain disruptions to fundamental issues with technology scale-up and integration.

The conversation explores the delicate balance between technological development and financial reality, revealing how the notorious "valley of death" between pilot demonstration and commercial deployment claims so many promising innovations. Stonecipher advocates for more thorough engineering work early in the development process, describing it as "intelligence gathering" that identifies risks before they become expensive problems.

At the heart of Stonecipher's message is some crucial advice for technology developers: pilot testing must be comprehensive, integrated, and representative of what will be deployed at commercial scale. "The more you can mimic at the pilot scale," he explains, "the higher your chances of success." This lesson, while seemingly straightforward, runs counter to the pressure many startups face to move quickly toward commercialization to satisfy investor timelines.

The conversation also delves into investor relations, capital stack composition, and how early-stage decisions can make or break long-term success. Jim explains that he sees promise in more modular, incremental approaches to scaling SAF production—starting smaller, proving performance, and then replicating successful units rather than attempting massive facilities from the outset. This "Lego-style" approach could help bridge the gap between technological promise and commercial reality.

If you enjoyed this episode check out our previous episode with Smitha Hariharan, Gulfstream here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17362935

This week on the SAF Podcast Smitha Hariharan, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Gulfstream Aerospace, discusses how one of the leading business jet manufacturer is pioneering sustainability through a comprehensive three-pillar strategy that balances environmental responsibility with business performance, with a heavy focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuel since 2011. 

From Gulfstream's groundbreaking 2011 transatlantic flight using 50% SAF to their 2023 achievement of flying a G600 from Savannah to Farnborough with 100% SAF in both engines (a full week before Virgin Atlantic's much-publicized commercial demonstration). 

Hariharan reveals Gulfstream's comprehensive sustainability strategy built on three pillars: aircraft efficiency, operational improvements, and fuel innovation. The company has committed to reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% by 2034 while supporting the aviation industry's ambitious 2050 net-zero goal. Their groundbreaking achievements include the first transatlantic business jet flight using 100% SAF—accomplished one week before Virgin's celebrated commercial flight.

The conversation explores how corporate customers are increasingly demanding sustainable aviation solutions, driving business aviation's transformation. Hariharan discusses the critical importance of book-and-claim mechanisms for expanding SAF access, particularly at smaller regional airports where business jets operate. She also addresses the challenges of scaling beyond HEFA-based SAF to next-generation pathways essential for meeting 2050 targets.

As a member of the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Gulfstream continues advancing industry-wide SAF adoption through rigorous testing, ASTM evaluation processes, and strategic partnerships with engine manufacturers like Rolls-Royce. This episode provides invaluable insights into how business aviation serves as a crucial testing ground for sustainable aviation innovations that will eventually benefit the entire aviation sector.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out our previous discussion which dives into Book and Claim more deeply with Andre de Fontaine about the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance here, https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17279231

This week Andre de Fontaine, Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) joins us on The SAF Podcast. Founded in 2021, SABA has been at the forefront of driving the Book and Claim conversation and allowing corporates to purchase SAF for their operations when they cannot control what fuel they fly on. 

Andre explains how SABA has grown to include approximately 35 major companies—including BCG, Bank of America, Netflix, and Meta—that share ambitious climate targets and significant aviation footprints. Together, they've facilitated around $200 million worth of SAF certificates representing 50 million gallons of sustainable fuel. The evolution has been dramatic; what began as an almost non-existent market in 2021 now features multiple producers and growing corporate demand. 

We also discuss one of SABA's latest initiatives, the launch of SAF Connect, a platform designed to streamline the connection between SAF providers and buyers. Lowering the barriers to entry and the ease with which companies can access SAF is critical to accelerating the higher levels of demand. 

The conversation also looks at whether SAF certificates have the ability to provide the long time certainty required by investors to consider demand signals bankable and make projects worth investing in, how purchasing certificates directly from producers or in partnership with airlines differ.

For more information about SABA and how you can get involved, visit flysaba.org.

If you enjoy this episode check out our previous discussion with Gediminas Ziemelis, Avia Solutions Group here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17239222-the-saf-podcast-avia-solutions-group-unleasing-baltic-saf-production.mp3?download=true

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, we welcome Gediminas Ziemelis, Founder and Chairman of Avia Solutions Group, to discuss the company’s move into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production through its NorSAF project. As the world’s largest wet-leasing provider, Avia Solutions Group operates across six continents and is now leveraging its extensive infrastructure to help decarbonize aviation.

Gediminas shares how the company is developing a state-of-the-art SAF and eSAF production facility in Liepāja, Latvia, strategically positioned to serve the Baltic, Nordic, and Central European regions. He reveals how acquiring an existing oil storage terminal has saved years on permitting and construction, while enabling cost-effective scaling of synthetic SAF production using KBR’s PureSAF technology—based on captured CO₂ and green hydrogen.

Behind this ambitious venture lies a revealing look at how nimble, privately-held companies can move faster in the green transition. Unlike publicly-listed giants retreating from environmental initiatives to focus on core business, Avia Solutions Group can make rapid decisions without justifying every move to shareholders. This agility might be exactly what's needed to accelerate aviation's sustainability journey.

Beyond environmental benefits, Ziemelis frames the project as a strategic move toward European energy independence—drawing parallels to how Europe developed sugar beet production in the 18th century to reduce dependency on imported sugar cane. Could synthetic aviation fuel represent the next chapter in Europe's quest for energy sovereignty? Listen now to discover how the future of flight might be taking shape in the Baltic region.

Check out our previous discussion with Dani Charles, Veriflux on AI and traceability here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/17201492