Stop chasing “green” jet fuel

A new year often starts with a simple question: How can we do better? For businesses, it’s a question that applies to almost everything, from product innovation to climate impact—an area of increasing urgency for many.

The goal of achieving net-zero is now a staple of most businesses’ annual plans, however the journey there is often challenging. It can be fraught with hidden trade-offs, making it difficult for ESG leaders to know whether they are truly backing the right solutions in pursuit of their climate goals.

Take aviation, for example. As one of the world’s most difficult sectors to decarbonize, its 2.5% share of global CO2 emissions represents a major challenge for nearly every corporate climate plan. To solve this, the industry developed a solution called Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Unlike traditional jet fuel made from crude oil, SAF is produced from renewable sources like used cooking oil, agricultural waste, and other plant-based materials. Crucially, it’s designed to work with existing aircraft engines, allowing airlines to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint without having to build new planes.

While promising a dramatic reduction in air travel’s carbon footprint, the well-intentioned race to scale this “green” fuel has created a dangerous paradox, leading companies down a path that risks undermining the goals they are trying to achieve.

THE HIDDEN FLAW IN GREEN JET FUEL

SAF has quickly become the poster child for sustainable flight, as it cuts an aircraft’s lifecycle emissions by up to 80%. However, the way we scale SAF matters just as much as the volumes we achieve. Many of today’s biofuels rely on crops grown on arable land, creating direct competition with food production and increasing the risk of deforestation and biodiversity loss.  

This is the hidden flaw in the first wave of green jet fuel. When the same land that could grow food or support forests is converted for use in jet fuel, claims of sustainability become less convincing. This approach risks incentivizing solutions that reduce carbon emissions on spreadsheets while increasing the social and environmental risks in reality.

At the same time, no one should underestimate the scale of aviation’s challenge. Industry roadmaps state that to align with net-zero targets by 2050, the sector will need hundreds of millions of tons of SAF per year, compared to only a few million tons produced per year today. We must choose the right path to close that gap over the next quarter-century.

The world generates an enormous amount of waste every year, from used cooking oil and animal fats to agricultural residues such as corn cobs, straw, and empty fruit bunches. Much of this material is mismanaged, leading to open burning, water contamination, and methane emissions as organic waste decomposes. Turning this waste into fuel tackles two problems at once: it avoids methane and pollution from unmanaged waste, and it displaces fossil fuels in sectors like aviation.

FROM PILOT TO SCALE: PROOF IN THE REAL WORLD

The key question for any sustainability solution is simple: Can it scale?

For waste-based SAF, the answer is increasingly yes. At EcoCeres, our first large-scale renewable fuels plant in Jiangsu, China—which launched in 2021—demonstrated that industrial-scale production of SAF from 100% waste oils is commercially viable, with a capacity of around 350,000 tons per year.

Now, that model is scaling. In January 2026, we officially opened our new production facility in Johor, Malaysia. With 420,000 tons of annual renewable fuel capacity, it’s one of the country’s first dedicated SAF facilities and it effectively doubles EcoCeres’ SAF production capability. The plant utilizes 100% waste-based feedstocks, supported by a strategy that secures used cooking oil and other residues across Asia. Its circular model is demonstrated by facilities certified under leading industry bodies like ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) and CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). It has moved beyond pilots and is now delivering at industrial scale, proving the viability of truly circular SAF.

SAF AS A GATEWAY TO CREDIBLE NET-ZERO FOR BUSINESS

For many global companies, business travel and air freight form a substantial share of their carbon emissions. Without a scalable, credible source of SAF, corporate net-zero pledges risk becoming aspirational rather than actionable.

It’s clear that a more sophisticated standard for green fuel is needed. Three simple criteria can guide better decisions:

• Feedstock integrity: Does the fuel rely on 100% waste and residue-based feedstocks that do not compete with food or high-value ecosystems?
• Verified lifecycle impact: Does it achieve high lifecycle emissions reductions validated by robust, third-party certification schemes aligned with global standards?
• Circular and local co-benefits: Does the solution tangibly reduce local pollution and create sustainable economic opportunities in the regions where waste is collected?  

Applying these tests can differentiate between models that simply shift problems elsewhere and circular solutions that create compounded benefits.

CLOSE THE LOOP ON GLOBAL MOBILITY

The concept of a circular economy has successfully reshaped countless industries. For years, however, global aviation has remained a critical open loop. A truly circular, waste-based SAF model can help us finally close the loop on global mobility.

This is not a distant dream. As we’ve demonstrated, the technology is already proven and operating at scale. Global studies confirm that underutilized waste streams can support the production of hundreds of millions of tons of sustainable fuel, more than enough to bridge the current supply gap. As more of the world’s waste is brought into productive use, the idea of flying on circular fuel moves from promising pilot to practical reality.

For the business leaders and ESG teams asking, “How can we do better?” this presents a clear and actionable path. By championing a higher standard for the fuels they endorse, they can help transform one of the world’s most difficult climate challenges into a story of innovation and opportunity. If we can turn the world’s waste into the world’s jet fuel, then every business trip, shipment, and journey can be part of the solution, not the problem.

Matti Lievonen is CEO of EcoCeres.

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