The aviation sector stands at a critical juncture. With approximately two and a half per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and mounting regulatory pressure, the industry’s shift to alternative fuels presents both risks and opportunities for investors. Our new guide, developed in collaboration with The SASHA Coalition, equips investors with practical, targeted questions to discuss with portfolio companies during engagement meetings. Empowering them to fulfil their role as long-term stewards of capital.
Beyond emissions alone, this guide helps investors drive meaningful action on climate while safeguarding nature, ensuring a just transition for workers and communities and addressing social equity across global fuel supply chains.
Why this matters to your investment strategy
Aviation fuel infrastructure faces fundamental disruption. Companies unprepared for the shift from fossil kerosene to more climate-aligned alternatives risk significant asset devaluation, regulatory penalties, and loss of social license. Our guide helps you identify and address these vulnerabilities before they impact returns.
The alternative aviation fuel market is projected to reach massive scale by 2050. Early movers who understand the nuances between the various alternative fuels – crop-based fuels and e-fuels – and their varying environmental and social implications, will be best positioned to secure early investments into key solutions needed in the sector’s decarbonisation trajectory.
With the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation policy and the UK SAF Mandate already in force, and similar interventions emerging in other countries across Asia and the Americas, compliance is no longer optional. Understanding these requirements today prevents costly penalties tomorrow.
Important considerations for aviation’s fuel future
Environment
Alternative fuels, such as e-fuels, can reduce emissions by up to 98%, but the environmental story doesn’t end there. Land use change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity pose material risks that many investors need to put a lens on.
Key insight: E-fuels require eight million hectares to power half of EU flights by 2050, while biofuels would need 33 million hectares – an area the size of Finland.
A responsible transition
We must place workers and communities at the center of this transition. The aviation fuel transition will reshape employment across the energy sector. Without careful planning, vulnerable workers, particularly in fossil fuel regions, could face economic hardship that can derail projects and create further risk to investments.
Key insight: Spain’s Just Transition Institute successfully channelled €1.5 billion into renewable projects while creating 5,944 jobs and providing 337,650 hours of training for displaced workers.
Social
Aviation serves the privileged few while its impacts affect everyone. The push for alternative fuels risks exacerbating inequalities through food security threats, energy access competition, and resource extraction in vulnerable regions.
Key insight: Many alternative fuel feedstocks compete directly with food production or freshwater access, creating material risks in regions already facing scarcity.
Interested in the detailed list of engagement questions?
In the report we’ve curated a list of engagement questions to arm you, as investors, with just transition, environment and social considerations to discuss with companies relevant to the aviation fuel transition in support of your own financial stability and net-zero progress.
Proven frameworks in action
Within the guide we’ve included a few insightful case studies from parallel sectors to explore how these approaches can be applied to the aviation sector:
- Spain’s €1.5 Billion just transition success: See how Endesa and Spain’s Just Transition Institute transformed coal plant closures into renewable energy victories, with guaranteed job creation and community benefits.
- Climate Action 100+ driving change: Eleven North American utilities improved their just transition scores in one year through targeted investor engagement.
- Global Hydrogen Standards setting the bar: The Joint Declaration on Responsible Hydrogen Deployment shows how environmental and social safeguards can be embedded from project inception.
Download the guide!
Explore our analysis, insights, case studies and a series of engagement questions in the complete briefing, linked below.
