Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill

Lillian Jones Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 11th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)]

I rise to speak in this important debate as we address the challenge of modernising fuel sources and reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. I declare my interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for the wood panel industry. The transition to net zero in aviation is not just a climate imperative but an industrial opportunity. I commend the Government for bringing forward the Bill, which aims to provide long-term certainty for investors in the UK’s growing sustainable aviation fuel sector. However, in our efforts to decarbonise aviation, we must be careful not inadvertently to harm other strategically important industries that also contribute to our economic growth and environmental goals.

The UK wood panel industry is one such sector. It generates more than £1.1 billion in gross value added and supports more than 10,000 jobs across the UK, many in high-skilled manufacturing roles in Wales, the north of England and Scotland, including my home of Ayrshire and beyond. Those are well-paid, productive and future-facing jobs.

The sector is one of the UK’s largest industrial recyclers of post-consumer waste wood. It takes what would otherwise be discarded and turns it into essential materials for furniture, interior design and—crucially—the homes we are building, yet there is genuine concern that the SAF revenue certainty mechanism could distort markets by incentivising the diversion of recyclable wood and forestry products to fuel production. We have seen that before with the renewable heat incentive, where subsidies inflated virgin wood prices and squeezed out established manufacturers. We cannot afford to repeat that mistake. I am pleased to hear that Ministers have met industry representatives, listened to their concerns and responded positively. I would like to invite my hon. Friend the aviation Minister to come and speak to the APPG so that he can hear from the industry at first hand.

The SAF mandate rightly references the waste hierarchy, prioritising reuse and recycling before energy recovery. However, the enforcement mechanisms remain unclear. If high-quality waste wood is drawn into SAF production, prices will rise, availability will fall and our domestic supply chain will suffer.

Let me be clear that I support the ambition of SAF. I also support the Government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes, but that will not be possible without affordable, sustainable construction materials, including wood panels. I urge Ministers to maintain the current safeguards in the SAF mandate, uphold the exclusion of virgin and recyclable wood from eligibility, ensure robust enforcement of the waste hierarchy so that only truly non-recyclable wood can be used, and put in place transparency mechanisms so that we can track what feedstocks are being used. If we get the balance right, we can deliver cleaner skies and affordable homes, and we can decarbonise aviation without decimating domestic manufacturing. Let us make SAF sustainable in every sense: environmentally, economically and industrially.