European Airlines Outpace US Carriers on Cleaner Jet Fuel
Green fuel is critical to efforts to tackle the climate impact of air travel. But sustainable aviation fuel was only 0.17% of airlines’ global propellant consumption in 2023.
Air France-KLM led all passenger airlines last year with 1.1% sustainable aviation fuel use.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
In the quest to shrink the outsized climate impact of air travel, airlines across the globe have vowed to consume vast quantities of greener jet fuel. But most airlines are lagging far behind their pledges, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of corporate environmental filings for 2023.
Although many airlines have promised to get at least 10% of their propellant from cleaner sources by the end of the decade, the use of sustainable aviation fuel, or “SAF,” grew from 0.04% of global aviation fuel in 2021 to 0.17% in 2023, according to estimates from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).