Air New Zealand says the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), produced by Finnish company Neste, will fuel around 400 return flights between Wellington and Auckland, reducing carbon emissions by up to 80%.

The airline says the 80% figure is calculated using the “CORSIA methodology, and the SAF is made from sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials.

But Robert McLachlan, a professor of mathematics with a keen interest in climate change, says the CORSIA SAF certification is very new and hard to get any concrete information on. 

He says Neste uses vast amounts of palm oil in its non-SAF biofuels and the markets can’t really be separated. 

“Many airlines have pledged 10% SAF by 2030, like Air New Zealand. That would add up to over 100 million tonnes, far more than Neste is promising with their new factory (1.5 million).

“So there is a question of how the industry would scale up. So far they are not engaging very constructively on the sustainability front," he says.

“Indonesia and Malaysia pressured the EU to stop their palm oil ban (which will not now take place until 2030).”

Energy consultant Jake Roos says when rainforest and other land is cleared to grow crops, there are huge releases of greenhouse gases from soils and peatlands.

“When these induced effects are included in the accounting, the biofuel component of aviation fuel has emissions up to three times higher than the fossil fuel it replaces.”

Roos says the food oils that Neste uses to make its SAF are globally traded commodities and any increase in demand will inevitably result in higher demand for food crops.

“When rainforest and other land is cleared to grow crops, there are huge releases of greenhouse gases from soils and peatlands.”

“It is no coincidence that Neste's biggest biofuels plant is in Singapore, at the centre of the palm oil-producing region. Investigations have shown Neste uses feedstocks for their fuels that are anything but sustainable.  A major one is PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distillate), a co-product of palm oil production which is used the make a wide variety of products such as soaps.

"By burning PFAD as biofuel, soap producers (and other users of PFAD) buy other food oils like palm oil to make up the shortfall, because they work just as well but just cost slightly more. This in turn drives more devastation of the natural world and net emissions increases,” Roos says.

“There’s no scope in the short term for production of SAF to be scaled up with anything but 'food and feed'-based oils. This will cause a variety of ills including increasing food and fuel prices, increased greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, impoverishment of indigenous peoples and the more hardship for the most vulnerable people in the world.”

Air New Zealand chief executive officer Greg Foran says the airline is committed to getting the Air New Zealand fleet up and running on SAF and this shipment marks the beginning of making regular imports a reality. 

“This is a major milestone for us. We made a commitment when we announced Flight NZ0 earlier this year to find a more sustainable way to connect with the world. Air New Zealand is already one of the most fuel-efficient airlines in the world with our modern fleet, but the future of travel relies on low-carbon air transport.

“While we are starting out small, it will help us to test the supply chain and understand the true cost of importing SAF into New Zealand. Currently, SAF only makes up less than 1% of the global fuel supply and is around three to five times the cost of fossil jet fuel, so while sourcing it is a challenge, it’s one we are tackling head on. By 2030, we expect our fleet to be fueled by 10% SAF.”

 In 2019 SAF made up just 0.05% of aviation fuel.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment signed an MoU with Air NZ last year to scope out the feasibility of a SAF facility in New Zealand.