NEW DELHI: The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has readied the draft of the National Policy on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), mandating blending of 1% SAF in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) from 2027, which will gradually increase to 5% in 2030 and progressively go up to 20% by 2040.
The policy also proposes development of an SAF registry system under the DGCA for transparent tracking of SAF transactions and emission reductions.
“The draft of the policy has been completed. The aviation ministry is yet to give its nod to the draft policy which will make it final,” a civil aviation ministry source told this newspaper, which has accessed the 30-page draft. The policy mandates that only domestically produced SAF must be blended with ATF by fuel suppliers.
“India will be participating in the mandatory phase of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) programme from 2027. Accordingly, the government has set indicative SAF blending targets initially for international flights: 1% by 2027, 2% by 2028 and 5% by 2030,” the document said. The policy aims to build a robust domestic SAF ecosystem, it added.
By 2030, India’s ATF consumption is expected to touch nearly 14.2 million tonnes, of which 7.7 million tonnes will be consumed by its international aviation sector.
Elaborating on the mandate and targets, the 30-page document states that only indigenously manufactured SAF is to be blended with ATF. “The fuel suppliers will be blending SAF with ATF at SAF production facility/refinery or at intermediate storage for supply of blended fuel at airports,” it said. The policy will be implemented in phases. The first phase will commence from 2027 and continue till 2030 and the second phase will be implemented from 2031 to 2040.
As SAF is expected to be costlier than conventional jet fuel by at least 2-3 times, the draft has called for enabling mechanism during the initial phase so that fuel suppliers are adequately incentivised for production of SAF, which meets the stated goals of the Policy.
Domestic flights, non-scheduled international operators, humanitarian, medical and emergency facilitites or maintenance flights, which do not carry passengers or cargo, are exempted.
Any aviation fuel supplier or aircraft operator that fails to comply with the mandates will be liable to pay penalty, the draft states. Airport authorities and operators must ensure readiness of infrastructure for storage, handling and distribution of SAF.
The proposed SAF registry system will ensure transparent tracking, monitoring, reporting, and verification of SAF transactions and associated emissions. The draft also envisages setting up a National Council on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (NC-SAF) co-chaired by the secretaries of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas and the ministry of civil aviation.
“The Council will meet periodically to provide overall coordination, effective end-to-end implementation and monitoring of SAF policy,” the draft said. The SAF policy will be implemented under the ambit of the National Biofuels Policy 2018.