A new £219m low carbon fuels fund (LCFF) will launch later this summer, with companies invited to bid for a share of £93m over the next two years. The fund will then focus support on the most promising projects closest to the actual production stage.

The Department for Transport announcement builds on £198m already invested through the advanced fuels fund (AFF) since 2022 to scale up cleaner aviation technologies such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

SAF could reduce greenhouse gas emissions on average by 70 per cent on a lifecycle basis, and alongside the new fund, the Government is launching a call for evidence on the SAF Mandate which requires an increasing proportion of jet fuel supplied in the UK to be sustainable, starting at 2 per cent in 2025, rising to 10 per cent by 2030 and 22 per cent by 2040.

Keith Packer, MD of British Sugar, said: “We are very pleased to see the launch of the DfT’s low carbon fuels fund and the clear commitment to further development of homegrown sustainable aviation fuel in the UK. At British Sugar, following a grant from the advanced fuels fund, the British BioJet project at our Wissington site is exploring the development of a sizeable demonstration plant.”

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