Shipments of your future Amazon packages could be powered, at least in part, by agricultural waste.
Amazon Air, the company’s air cargo operation, says it has secured up to 6 million gallons (about 23 million liters) of sustainable aviation fuel under a 12-month deal announced this morning. It’s part of a larger push by the tech and e-commerce giant to significantly reduce the impact of its operations on the climate.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is derived from renewable resources, generally plant or animal material, rather than conventional fossil fuels. Amazon is purchasing blended fuel, in which renewable energy sources are mixed with traditional fuels. Shell Aviation is supplying the fuel to Amazon. World Energy is producing it.
The deal “makes Amazon Air a key enabler of SAF production, building demand as the fuel industry seeks to increase access to low-carbon aviation fuel,” the company says in a blog post. It adds, “Amazon Air’s investment in SAF will help to reduce carbon emissions from our operations, while also building confidence in the sustainable fuel industry.”
The company, which has a fleet of more than 80 aircraft, says it expects the blended fuel to reduce carbon emissions up to 20% when used.
But how big of a deal is this, really?
Six million gallons “is a substantial quantity to use on a voluntary basis, and it’s nice to see that this is relatively low-carbon fuel produced by World Energy,” said Nikita Pavlenko, senior researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, reached by GeekWire via email this morning.
“However,” he added, “it’s important to put this into context: Amazon’s offtake agreement marks a large increase in the quantity of SAF on the market, but a very small quantity relative to total jet fuel consumption and the (greenhouse gas) impact of the aviation sector.”
To put Amazon’s 6 million gallons into perspective, about 7.6 million gallons (29 million liters) of sustainable aviation fuel were expected to be produced in 2019, according to preliminary Air Transport Action Group estimates cited by Pavlenko. (Final figures for 2019 aren’t yet available.) That’s up from about 2 million gallons (7 million liters) in 2018.
But bigger picture, it’s still a drop in the bucket.
Overall global jet fuel consumption was about 96 billion gallons (363 billion liters) in 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association. That figure is projected to drop to 60 billion gallons (227 billion liters) this year as the global COVID-19 pandemic reduces air travel around the world.
The implications of reducing fossil fuel use by airplanes would be meaningful. Aviation is responsible for 12% of global carbon emissions from transportation activities, according to the Air Transport Action Group.
Amazon’s investment in sustainable aviation fuel is part of a broader Climate Pledge announced by the company last year, promising to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change by 2040, becoming carbon neutral 10 years ahead of schedule. The company in June launched a $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund and purchased naming rights to Seattle’s pro hockey and basketball arena, naming it Climate Pledge Arena.
Amazon’s announcement last year came amid public pressure from the group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, which urged the company to set more specific goals on climate change. Bezos said in announcing the pledge that the company was “done being in the middle of the herd on this issue.”
Previous moves by Amazon in aviation have included shifting to electric ground service equipment, replacing diesel alternatives, and putting solar rooftop panels on new air cargo facilities.
“Development of more efficient air cargo solutions is critical to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon across Amazon by 2040,” said Sarah Rhoads, vice president of Amazon Global Air, in the company’s post. “Using sustainable aviation fuel is a natural next step, and one that calls for continued action. We encourage other companies to join us in the effort to engage with suppliers to create more fuel alternatives.”
To be sure, Amazon isn’t alone. More than 40 airlines have adopted sustainable aviation fuels to some degree, according to an article in the industry publication Aviation Pros this week by Chris Cooper, a vice president at renewable fuels company Neste North America.
Amazon declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. Sustainable aviation fuel can cost as much as three to four times as much as traditional aviation fuel. Increased demand and production are expected to reduce the price over time.
But there are obstacles to widespread use of sustainable aviation fuel, said Pavlenko, the researcher with the International Council on Clean Transportation.
“Given the significant economic barriers to SAF production, it’s unlikely that we would see largescale adoption of SAF by carriers in the absence of stronger political incentives such as carbon pricing, production incentives for SAF, and the like,” he said. “Instead, I expect more small-scale demonstrations and announcements like you see here.”
He added, “It would take a heavy lift politically and economically even to scale up to 2% of jet fuel demand through the use of relative low-hanging fruit of waste oil-to-jet pathways like World Energy is pursuing; achieving even higher blend levels (once all those waste oils have been used up) requires more technologically challenging fuel pathways with even higher costs.”
Amazon’s recent 2019 sustainability report showed that its greenhouse gas emissions rose over the previous year by 15%. Emissions did grow more slowly than net sales, which increased 22% last year from 2018, but the increase in emissions illustrates the challenge the company faces in its quest to go carbon neutral.
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July 08, 2020 at 11:56PM
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Amazon Air buys 6M gallons of sustainable fuel — here’s what it means for the industry and planet - GeekWire
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