Microsoft and International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of airlines including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and LEVEL, announced that they have extended an agreement for the purchase of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), in a deal aimed at supporting Microsoft’s goal to reduce Scope 3 lifecycle emissions from business travel and air freight.

According to the companies, through the 5-year extension agreement, Microsoft will co-fund an additional 39,000 tons of SAF, helping reduce its indirect carbon emissions by approximately 113,000 tons. The companies added that the extension makes the partnership the largest and longest Scope 3 SAF agreement to date, according to publicly available data,

In addition to addressing emissions from corporate flying, Microsoft said that it is also co-funding SAF that is used by IAG’s airlines to ship data center components globally.

Julia Fidler, Environmental Sustainability Fuel and Materials Decarbonization Lead at Microsoft, said:

“We are taking our collaboration with IAG further, extending our SAF purchase agreement to bring Microsoft closer to our goal of being carbon negative by 2030, while ensuring a multi-year commitment to help drive greater SAF production. We are pleased to work alongside IAG on efforts to increase demand and make SAF more widely available through our shared long-term purchase agreement.”

The deal will help IAG to reduce its direct Scope 1 carbon emissions. IAG has set targets to fly with 10% SAF and use 1 million tonnes of SAF per year by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050.

The SAF funded by the agreement will be produced from used cooking oil and food waste at Phillips 66’s UK-based Humberside refinery, and from sustainably sourced bioethanol at Georgia-based LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels.. Both fuels are certified by International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC).

Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s Group Sustainability Officer, said:

“We’re pleased to work with like-minded organizations such as Microsoft to expand efforts to reduce flying lifecycle emissions. Long-term agreements help encourage much-needed funding in SAF production, something that IAG is championing through our investment in global SAF projects.”