Heathrow accelerates sustainable aviation fuel adoption

Photo: Heathrow Airports Ltd.

Heathrow announced Jan. 10 an increase in its pioneering carbon-cutting scheme for a fourth year.

In 2025, £86 million (USD$105.8 million) will be available to airlines through the airport’s SAF incentive scheme, targeting 3 percent of aviation fuel used at Heathrow to be SAF—amounting to 187,000 metric tons.

Heathrow continues to lead on SAF use in the U.K., with the incentive 1 percent above the U.K. mandate.

The SAF mandate came into effect Jan. 1.  

SAF, a fuel alternative to traditional fossil-based kerosene, can cut lifecycle-carbon emissions by 70 percent on average by utilizing feedstocks such as used cooking oil and other waste materials.

The scheme encourages airlines to switch to SAF by approximately halving the price gap between kerosene and its cleaner alternative, making SAF more commercially viable for airlines.

In 2025, the scheme aims to reduce lifecycle-carbon emissions from flights by over 500,000 tons.

This is equivalent to over 800,000 economy-class passengers round trips from Heathrow to JFK. 

The 2025 incentive aims to align with Heathrow’s target to be 1 percent above the U.K. mandate in 2030—achieving 11 percent SAF use at the airport.

Integrating SAF into the fuel supply is a crucial step in the airport’s journey toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.  

Heathrow has also published its “Nature Positive Plan,” which outlines its commitment to better understand, and where possible, reduce Heathrow’s impacts on nature.

Heathrow is also updating its sustainability strategy, “Connecting People and Planet” (Heathrow 2.0).

The refreshed plan introduces more ambitious goals in areas where significant progress has been achieved, while adopting realistic yet stretching targets in response to evolving circumstances and data-driven insights.

It highlights clear progress and increased ambitions in priority areas, including reducing noise impacts, improving air quality and supporting the local community. 

“Sustainable aviation fuel is no longer a future promise—it’s a proven solution that is powering flights worldwide,” said Matt Gorman, Heathrow’s director of carbon strategy.

“Our SAF incentive scheme, part of our ‘Connecting People and Planet’ sustainability strategy, has made significant progress and we’re now exploring options to set a long-term incentive signal to 2030,” Gorman added. “We are delighted that government has moved so quickly to legislate the SAF mandate. We must now accelerate legislation for the SAF revenue certainty mechanism to ensure we can build a domestic industry that will help decarbonize and drive economic growth.”