Bank of America sets 2030 sustainable aviation fuel goal

Photo: American Airlines

Bank of America announced Feb. 11 that it will support the production and use of 1 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030. The company will support these efforts through financing, investment, capital markets and procurement activities. This builds on the company’s Net Zero before 2050 goal. Bank of America is the first global financial institution to set an SAF usage and capital deployment goal.

The company’s 2030 SAF goal is comprised of the following:

1. Catalyzing the market through the mobilization of $2 billion in sustainable finance for the production of SAF and other low-carbon aviation solutions.

2. Utilizing SAF for at least 20 percent of the company’s total annual corporate and commercial jet fuel usage—this equates to approximately 3 million gallons of SAF each year. This includes:

   • 100 percent of corporate jet fuel. Presently the company utilizes SAF wherever available as the current market is limited. If SAF is not available for direct purchase, Bank of America pays a premium to support a SAF purchase by a partner in an amount equivalent to our fuel use.

   • A significant percentage of fuel associated with Bank of America employee travel on commercial airlines, including American Airlines.

To reach this goal, Bank of America will work with aviation fuel suppliers and related ecosystem participants to increase production and support the development of the necessary infrastructure for users to access SAF.

“To achieve net zero, we have to think and do things differently, ensuring new sustainable technologies are top of mind and part of every business’ strategy,” said Alex Liftman, global environmental executive at Bank of America. “Innovative, low-carbon products such as SAF help to catalyze and advance our collective net-zero ambitions and builds on Bank of America’s commitment to achieve net zero before 2050 in our operations, supply chain and business activities. To drive these technologies to scale, we’re leveraging all of our global expertise and resources—across our operations, buying power, sustainable finance, and partnerships. This initiative demonstrates that commitment.”

Bank of America is partnering with a number of leading organizations to support its SAF efforts, including recent agreements with SkyNRG and American Airlines.

• SkyNRG: 10-year partnership [part of SkyNRG Board Now program] to support the production of 1.2 million gallons of SAF per year beginning in 2025. The Board Now is the only corporate SAF program that enables new production capacity.

• American Airlines: Three-year agreement supporting the purchase of 1 million gallons of SAF annually for 2021-’23. To date, this is the largest publicly announced SAF agreement by volume between an airline and corporate customer for reducing emissions for employee travel.

“We’re working to build this market with every tool possible, which includes paying a green premium to support the purchase of SAF,” Liftman said.

In addition to procuring SAF for its operations, Bank of America is deploying and mobilizing capital to scale and grow the SAF market and accelerate sustainable innovation through its $1.5 trillion sustainable-finance commitment, of which $1 trillion is focused on environmental transition. These efforts demonstrate Bank of America’s commitment to catalyzing innovative technologies such as SAF to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

“We are focused on tangible and credible solutions to help decarbonize across industry sectors globally,” said Karen Fang, global head of sustainable finance at Bank of America. “Sustainable aviation is an important area to drive development. Many of the new low-carbon technologies are not economical today. It is critical that we work as quickly as possible with participants across the public and private sectors to accelerate and expand technologies which will help to reduce the green premium, making these low-carbon solutions more competitive and available. The key is to speed up the supply demand flywheel to help scale SAF production.”

Bank of America recognizes that in order for aviation fuel to be truly sustainable, the fuel must substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while also addressing other downstream environmental and social impacts. Bank of America’s partnerships are helping to accelerate innovation and are enabling new markets, such as a globally recognized Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) framework.

‘’As we work towards securing the future of global SAF supplies and the growth of the SAF market, it is inspiring to see corporates like Bank of America step forward with such strong commitments, which pose as an example for their industry,” said Theye Veen, managing director at SkyNRG. “We look forward to working together to build a more sustainable future for aviation.”

“American welcomes Bank of America’s commitment to growing the market for sustainable aviation fuel,” said Jill Blickstein, managing director of ESG for American Airlines. “Our agreement with Bank of America is a great example of the cross-industry engagement that will be necessary to decarbonize aviation, and it adds to our confidence and optimism about a future in which SAF is more readily available and the environmental impact of air travel reaches net zero.”