Neste is the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel, and renewable feedstock solutions for various polymers and chemicals industry uses. Neste has introduced renewable and recycled raw materials such as liquefied waste plastic as refinery raw materials. Neste is also developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2021, Neste’s revenue stood at EUR 15.1 billion and the comparable operating profit was 1,342 million euros. Neste employed some 4,900 employees in 2021. Neste manufactures its high-quality, renewable products in Finland, the Netherlands and Singapore. The company aims to become a global leader in renewable and circular solutions. Neste are committed to supporting our customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. Jonathan Wood, Vice President Europe, Renewable Aviation, Neste, in an Exclusive Interview with MRO Business Today talks about the company’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions, making a difference being the world’s leading producer of SAF, and aim to make Neste company a pioneer in sustainable fuel production for Europe by 2030. Read more……
Q – Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) plays a vital role in reducing carbon emissions and Neste plans to strive for zero carbon emissions by 2050. Your plan of action to accomplish this goal?
Ans – SAF has been widely acknowledged as a key element in achieving aviation’s emission reductions goals, and the industry associations IATA as well as individual airlines have committed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Neste committed to reduce emissions and develop circular solutions, and has set ambitious targets to both become net zero in our own operations by 2035 (our ‘’footprint’’) as well as to reduce our customers’ carbon emissions (our ‘’handprint’’) by 20 million tons per annum by 2030.
Neste is the world’s leading producer of SAF, with a current production of 100,000 tons per annum. We are committed to supporting aviation to reach its goals and are investing heavily in increasing our SAF production capacity:
- With the ongoing expansion of our Singapore renewables refinery and modification of our Rotterdam, NL renewables refinery, our global SAF production capacity will increase to 1,5 million tons per annum by the end of 2023. To put this in context – this is approx. 50% more than the proposed EU SAF supply mandate for 2025.
- Neste recently announced that it will also be expanding its Rotterdam refinery, which will bring our total global SAF production capacity to 2,2 million tons per annum by 2026.
Q – The industry is moving towards Sustainable Aviation Fuel as an alternative for fossil fuel. What are the steps taken towards this initiative?
Ans – SAF has been widely acknowledged as a key element in achieving aviation’s emission reductions goals. Around 65% of the reductions necessary to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will need to come from using SAF. So the aviation industry has committed itself and set an ambitious but clear target.
SAF costs more than fossil jet fuel, and this has limited demand levels. As a result, the multi-billion $ investments required to grow the production and supply of SAF have been difficult to secure.
Whilst we are now seeing growing voluntary demand from end customers such as for corporate business travel or air freight to pay for the incremental cost of SAF vs fossil jet fuel, demand needs to be promoted by government policies. Such as with a supply mandate obligation as has been implemented in some markets in Europe, incentives such as in North America, the UK, and Netherlands, and charges for carbon emissions via mechanisms such as the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).
The combination of supportive government policies and voluntary demand will help the financing of the multibillion $ investments required to scale up a new SAF industry. Neste has had the courage to invest before the market and with the recently announced expansion of our Rotterdam refinery continues to lead the way.
Q – The offerings of Victor in association with Neste reduce 80% of greenhouse gas emissions in the environment. What is Neste’s approach?
Ans – Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by up to 80% over the life cycle of the fuel, compared to fossil jet fuel. It also reduces the so-called non-CO2 effects, like particulate emissions that play a role in forming contrails which can also cause climate warming too.
The reduction in GHG emissions is due to the raw materials used for the production of SAF. Neste uses 100% sustainable source renewable waste and residue raw materials, such as used cooking oil or animal fat waste. No new carbon is being added to the ecosystem, but it is in effect being recycled. Due to our proprietary NEXBTL technology we are able to produce an aviation fuel which burns cleaner and therefore also reduces the non-CO2 effects.
Victor customers can choose to fly with SAF, enabling them to reduce the GHG emissions of their air travel significantly. Neste will supply the SAF.
Q – Neste’s new development towards SAF is Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)? Your views?
Ans – For companies which have set sustainability targets it is important to be able to credibly report on those targets. This especially goes for companies which have set science based targets. The Science Based Targets initiative is the gold standard for climate reporting.
The SBTi also includes guidelines for aviation and the solution we offer together with Victor is aligned with these guidelines. That means companies who have set science based targets and use Neste SAF for their air travel (e.g. the consulting company BCG) or air freight (e.g. DB Schenker) can use this to credibly report their emission reductions.
The same goes for other organizations – bands, sports teams, or private individuals who care about our environment and have their own sustainability targets.
Q – What were the challenges faced by Neste during the pandemic period?
Neste set up the new Renewable Aviation Business Unit in 2020 to bring SAF to market and play a role in the decarbonisation of the aviation industry. This was right before the Covid pandemic, which has obviously impacted aviation more than almost any other sector. Despite this, we see that the awareness and commitment to reduce emissions has increased, and certainly from a Neste point of view we continue to believe our strategy is the right one – as is evidenced by seeing through the multi-billion $ investments at our renewable fuel production facilities in Singapore and Rotterdam.
What the pandemic has yielded is an increased awareness of the need for a sustainable recovery and the role we all need to play in that. Whether you are a company using air travel or an individual going on holiday by airplane, we all can play a role in making aviation more sustainable by using the solutions which are available today. SAF is such a solution and is available today.
So maybe our main challenge is accelerating the adoption and development of SAF. The solution we offer together with Victor is a perfect example as it enables those who fly privately to take action and make their air travel more sustainable.
Q – What are the Neste’s plans of expansion in the near future?
Ans – As mentioned earlier, Neste is investing heavily in increasing its SAF production capacity. But we are also investing in our global production capacity of other renewable products like our renewable diesel and renewable raw materials for the polymers and chemicals sector.
For example Neste’s ongoing Singapore expansion project and the joint venture with Marathon in Martinez, CA, that is still pending for closing, will increase the total production capacity of renewable products from 3.5 to 5.5 million tons by the end of 2023, and make Neste the only global provider of renewable fuels and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals with a production footprint on three continents. We have also announced a further investment in Rotterdam to grow renewables production to 6.8 million tons per annum. And we don’t plan on stopping there.
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We are also actively researching future production technologies in order to use other widely available sustainable raw materials – such as agricultural and forestry waste, Municipal Solid Waste. Ultimately we intend to develop Power to Liquid technology, where renewable power is used to extract Hydrogen from water, to combine it with Carbon from biomass or captured from the air, in order to create a renewable hydrocarbon fuel. This will take the next decade to develop the technology and scale up commercial production.
