Air Canada, Carbon Engineering sign MOU to explore commercial SAF opportunities

Photo: Air Canada

Air Canada and Carbon Engineering Ltd. announced Nov. 10 a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to identify potential opportunities in how Carbon Engineering’s proprietary Direct Air Capture technology, which captures CO2 from the atmosphere, can advance aviation decarbonization. The two Canadian companies plan to explore potential cooperation activities in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), permanent carbon dioxide removal, and innovation, including opportunities for Air Canada to purchase SAF utilizing Carbon Engineering’s technologies.

The DAC technology captures CO2 directly out of the atmosphere and can be used to support decarbonization in two significant and complementary ways:

• When combined with secure geologic storage, it can permanently remove vast amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, providing a tool to eliminate any CO2 emission, from any location and at any moment in time

• Additionally, through integration with Carbon Engineering’s AIR TO FUELS™ technology, DAC can be used to produce ultra-low carbon transportation fuels, such as SAF, by combining atmospheric CO2 with clean hydrogen

“At Air Canada, we are very focused on seeking innovative, long-term, sustainable emission-reduction solutions as we work towards achieving our absolute midterm GHG net reduction targets by 2030 and our net-zero GHG-emissions goal by 2050,” said Amos Kazzaz, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Air Canada. “Our relationship with Carbon Engineering spanning three years has enabled us to learn about their emerging technology advances, SAF production, and ecosystem-building efforts. We are pleased to officially become the first Canadian airline to work with Carbon Engineering to advance new, transformational technologies towards the commercial viability of SAFs and carbon removal, two significant components to building a long-term, sustainable, global aviation industry.”

Steve Oldham, CEO of Carbon Engineering, said, “Addressing emissions within the aviation industry is expected to be some of the most challenging, yet important, work in the years to come. The good news is that feasible, affordable, and scalable solutions, like Carbon Engineering’s DAC and AIR TO FUELSTM technologies, are available and capable of making a meaningful impact in meeting critical net-zero targets. At Carbon Engineering, supporting aviation decarbonization is a key component of our commercialization plans and we’re thrilled to be working with a major airline, like Air Canada, to collaborate on ways to accelerate the potential of DAC-based solutions in supporting the aviation-energy transition.”

As part of its climate targets to reach a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions throughout its global operations by 2050, Air Canada has committed to invest in a variety of alternative-fuel and carbon-reduction solutions. Air Canada currently reports its carbon footprint, targets, and climate-protection strategy through the CDP and, as of 2022, will also be reporting through the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework.