Airbus has collaborated with six other corporate partners to commit a whopping USD200 million in co-investment in a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) financing fund.

Alongside Air France-KLM Group, Associated Energy Group, BNP Paribas, Burnham Sterling, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc and Qantas Airways, they seek to hasten the production of SAF.

They are liaising with investment manager Burnham Sterling Asset Management to form the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance (SAFFA) investment fund in which Airbus is the Anchor Investor.

Each partner brings on board its financial expertise to invest in technologically-mature SAF-producing projects that produce SAF by using, for instance, waste-based feedstocks.

They are expected to diversify their investments in varied SAF production pathways and regions and enter into priority contracts to secure SAF offtakes from the projects SAFFA will invest in, for its allocated volumes.

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SAFFA is focusing on SAF that is eligible for RefuelEU Aviation(1) or CORSIA(2) (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) certification.

SAFFA first invested in Crysalis Biosciences, a tech firm dedicated to renewing US chemical manufacturing infrastructure with innovative fuel and chemical production technologies.

The firm’s recent accomplishments include the acquisition and renovation of the Monarch facility, an ethanol plant situated in Sauget, Illinois, USA, which was shuttered in 2019.

In Q1 of 2024, the plant completed the upgrades and got the necessary environmental authorizations to resume operations to produce low carbon intensity SAF and biochemicals.