International Partnerships
CAAFI’s Role
CAAFI® works with various international organizations and public private partnerships with similar goals for achieving development and deployment of safe, cost-effective, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). We facilitate coordinated and consistent global efforts on research, development, assessment, and deployment of SAF, share best practices, and find opportunities for synergies and complementary efforts. Our goal is to assist the global aviation community in achieving the goal of carbon neutral growth in international aviation from 2020.
Current Status
International Targets and Goals
The Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), which includes 275 airlines worldwide represented by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airframe and engine manufacturers, airports, and air navigation service providers, has put forth a goal of carbon neutral growth from 2020 as well as the goal to reduce net carbon emissions by 50% relative to 2005 levels by 2050. Notably, CAAFI’s industry sponsors, A4A, AIA and ACI-NA, are part of the ATAG coalition. ATAG’s four-pillar strategy of advancing technology, operations, infrastructure, and an appropriate market-based measure expressly calls for SAF to be a significant contributor toward achieving these goals.
The goal of carbon neutral growth from 2020 was subsequently adopted by the Member States of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In 2009, ICAO also agreed to a basket of measures as a comprehensive approach to reaching this goal, comprised of technical, operational, and infrastructure enhancements; sustainable aviation fuels; and the development of a global market-based measure (GMBM) as a gap-filler. In 2016, ICAO decided to implement the “Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation” (CORSIA) as the GMBM applying to CO2 emissions from international aviation. Inherent in the structure of CORSIA are the benefits of SAF to support the achievement of the international aviation industry’s goal.
CORSIA is intended to support the aviation sector’s commitment to carbon neutral growth (growth in aviation operations/activity with no increase in carbon emissions) starting in 2020, and the use of SAF is one option airlines can use to reduce their offsetting requirements under the scheme.
In October 2017, ICAO held the Second ICAO Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF2). This international conference agreed on the 2050 ICAO Vision of having a significant proportion of conventional aviation fuels to be substituted with sustainable aviation fuels by 2050. The participating States agreed that the Vision will be periodically reviewed to assess progress on the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels with a view to updating the Vision to include a quantified goal in advance of convening of the next Conference by 2025.
In addition, a number of international goals and targets have been set for achieving a certain level of greater alternative fuel deployment, and several either accept or explicitly set targets for SAF. These targets are summarized here.
A number of different airlines have already entered into offtake agreements with various fuel producers.
Key Topics
CAAFI Collaborations Around the Globe:
Public-Private Partnerships
CAAFI has collaborated with and served as a resource for public-private initiatives from other countries to achieve common goals with regard to the development, evaluation, and deployment of alternative fuels.
As a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-sponsored organization, CAAFI has supported SAF collaborations under bilateral agreements of the U.S. with Australia, Germany, Brazil, Spain, and Indonesia.
CAAFI was instrumental in supporting the formation and mission development for the Australian Initiative for Sustainable Biofuels (AISAF). This collaboration grew out of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Australia in 2011 that led to CAAFI’s participation in the Avalon Airshow in 2012. The various joint efforts under that bilateral agreement led to a U.S. Navy arrangement to procure alternative aviation fuels from Australia to power the Navy’s “Great Green Fleet.”
CAAFI has had a long-standing collaboration with the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany e.V. (aireg), that includes information sharing and reciprocal input regarding ongoing efforts on sustainability, greenhouse gas life cycle analysis (LCA) research, and commercial offtake initiatives.
CAAFI leadership has provided support for joint activities including interactions with the Brazilian Biodiesel and Biojetfuel Union (Ubrabio), the Indonesian Aviation Biofuels and Renewable Energy Task Force (ABRETF), and the Spanish Bioqueroseno Initiative.
Other public private partnership with whom CAAFI has collaborated include two activities in Canada, BioFuelNet Canada (R&D Collaboration) and the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN) Initiative (supply demonstration project).
In January of 2014, CAAFI hosted a “Global Exchange” discussion to foster enhanced communication between various worldwide, public-private initiatives pursuing the introduction and commercialization of sustainable SAF. The event allowed participants and their sponsor organizations to evaluate potential plans and opportunities and pursue greater cooperation between initiatives where merited. The group focused on the needs for tools and templates to enable public-private partnership formation, offtake agreements, and bilateral agreements. It also focused on the need to promote cooperation on critical elements such as fuel testing and certification. In addition, the group identified the opportunity to work together to align communications and demonstrate the unity and strength of the aviation marketplace for SAF. The CAAFI Global Exchange was a precipitating event that eventually led to the establishment of the IATA Alternative Fuels Symposium, which was initiated in November of 2015 and was held annually in conjunction with the fall meetings of the IATA Aviation Fuel Forum. The IATA Aviation Energy Forum (AEF) is now a merger of the Fuel Forum and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Symposium.
CAAFI will continue to regularly interact with the leadership of these partner initiatives as well as new partners as opportunities arise.
International Research Programs
In addition to CAAFI’s ongoing collaborations with other public-private partnerships, we also provide regular input and feedback to a variety of international initiatives and research programs. CAAFI co-hosted an informational event and joint meeting with CORE-JetFuel, a research coalition sponsored by the European Commission, in April 2016 to facilitate discussion among experts from the U.S. and Europe on SAF, including policy options, promising technologies, harmonization of sustainability requirements, and CAAFI stakeholder initiative approaches. CAAFI Steering Group members were also engaged with the Sustainable Way for Alternative Fuels and Energy in Aviation (SWAFEA), a European study on SAF feasibility and impacts, as well as the recent ITAKA project.
