Aerospace giant Boeing announced an investment in synthetic aviation fuel producer Norsk e-Fuel, becoming a key project development partner of the company, supporting one of Europe’s first industrial-scale Power-to-Liquids facility to help meet growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Founded in 2019 and based in Oslo, Norsk e-Fuel is establishing large-scale production sites to deliver synthetic fuels to the aviation industry, which will use CO2 and water to produce electro-SAF, or e-SAF. The company’s technology is based on utilizing fossil-free power to generate green hydrogen and combining it with recycled CO2 from biogenic sources.

According to Norsk e-Fuel, its solution can reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of air travel by over 90% compared to conventional jet fuel.

Lars Bjørn Larsen, CCO of Norsk e-Fuel, said:

“Our goal is to make e-fuels competitive with and eventually replace fossil fuels in critical infrastructures as SAF needs to become readily accessible and affordable for advancing aviation’s decarbonization. Boeing’s investment will further accelerate our project pipeline and will facilitate the broader aviation industry’s transition to net-zero emissions.”

Fuel accounts for the vast majority of the aviation sector’s emissions. While sustainable aviation fuel has emerged as a key tool to cut aviation emissions, most SAF is currently produced from plant-based feedstock, which can present supply challenges, and may compete with the food chain with and present potential negative environmental consequences, including deforestation and use of arable land that could have been used to produce edible crops. Additionally, efforts to meaningfully increase the use of SAF by airlines face significant challenges, including the low supply currently available on the market, and prices well above those of conventional fossil-based fuels, with SAF accounting for only around 0.53% of global commercial fuel use in 2024.

The partnership comes as regulatory initiatives such as the EU’s RefuelEU SAF mandate increased levels of SAF use over the next several years, and also include sub-mandates for e-SAF, the type of fuel Norsk will produce.

Boeing said that its investment will accelerate the production and availability of SAF in the Nordics and globally, supporting the commercial aviation industry in its efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Steve Gillard, Boeing’s Regional Sustainability Director for Europe, Middle East, Türkiye, Africa and Central Asia, said:

“Our support of and collaboration with Norsk e-Fuel underscores the importance of using fossil-free energy to accelerate SAF production, which is key to reducing aviation’s carbon emissions towards 2050. Our partnership to advance e-fuels will help mobilize the commercialization of SAF in the Nordics and across the world, increasing accessibility and availability for our customers as we help build a robust SAF ecosystem.”