Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether future revenues generated from Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate buy-out penalties will be spent on aviation sector decarbonisation.

The SAF mandate, which started in January this year, includes ambitious but deliverable targets to supply sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Suppliers are expected to meet targets in the SAF mandate without the need to buyout. The buyout is not a revenue raising measure, and the buyout price is set at a level to ensure that unsustainable costs are not passed on to passengers.

The SAF mandate generates demand, but we are also supporting SAF supply. Including through the Advanced Fuels Fund, which for the current year has allocated £63 million, and the creation of a UK SAF Clearing House to provide advice and support to SAF producers navigating the fuel testing landscape. This is helping to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market. The Government has also introduced legislation for a Revenue Certainty Mechanism to increase investor confidence and unlock investment in UK SAF production.

In addition to our considerable commitments on SAF, we are supporting the sector to transition to greener aviation through a range of measures, including delivering the airspace modernisation programme, which will see cleaner, quicker and quieter journeys, and major funding for new technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).