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The Greenland ice sheet melt season for this year is over, resulting in the 28th year in a row in which Greenland has lost ice.

This has been a spiky year for Greenland – a mix of highs from abundant snow in winter and lows from some very high melt days in summer.

Those spikes of high snowfall delayed the onset of the melt season in June and reduced melt substantially in August. Fresh snow is a brighter white than old glacier ice, so summer snow effectively acted as a shiny protective blanket – just when the high melt season was getting going.

The 2023-24 year, as the year before, had strong melt rates throughout the northern-hemisphere summer, but also above average snowfall during winter and in June. As a result, the balance between accumulated snow and melting ice on Greenland’s surface ended above the 1981-2010 average.

The increase in both melt and snowfall are exactly what scientists expect in a warming climate. But, overall, Greenland has again lost more ice than it gained – even though, as in previous years, Greenland was comparably cool compared to North America and Europe.

High “calving” rates – the breaking off of icebergs at the face of the ice sheet – meant that Greenland lost 80bn tonnes of ice over the 12 months from September 2023 to August 2024. The last year to see a net gain of ice is still 1996.

This marks the 10th year of these annual reviews – see our previous annual analysis for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.

Surface melt

Greenland’s annual cycle covers the 12 months from the previous September up to the end of August. Over this period, we calculate the “surface mass budget” (SMB) for the ice sheet.

The SMB is akin to the bank account for the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. It is the balance between gains (from snowfall) and losses (from ice melt and runoff).

As the ice sheet largely gains snow from September, accumulating ice through autumn, winter and into spring, we start the ice budget year on 1 September.

Then, as the year warms up into late spring, the ice sheet begins to lose more ice through surface melt than it gains from fresh snowfall, generally from the mid of June.

This melt season usually continues until the middle or end of August, the end of the surface budget year.

Snowfall is the only way for the ice sheet to gain mass. Therefore, for the size of the ice sheet to remain constant, this snow must outweigh all other ways the ice sheet can lose ice – iceberg calving, melt at the base of the ice sheet and evaporation from the surface.

According to our calculations, the Greenland ice sheet ended the year 2023-24 with an overall SMB of about 367bn tonnes (Gt). This is the 19th highest SMB in a dataset that goes back 44 years, and it is close to the 1981-2010 average of 348 Gt.

The past year’s SMB is illustrated in the maps and charts below, based on data from the Polar Portal. The blue line in the upper chart shows the day-to-day SMB. Large snowfall events become visible as “spikes”. The blue line in the lower chart depicts the accumulated SMB, counted from the beginning of the “mass balance year” on 1 September 2023. In grey, the long-term average and its variability are shown. For comparison, the red line shows the record-low year of 2011-12.

The map shows the geographic spread of SMB gains (blue) and losses (red) for 2023-24, compared to the long-term average. This shows that southern Greenland had a relatively wet year compared to the long-term average, but the north-west and west lost more than usual. The spikes of snow and melt are clear in the graphs on the right.

2023-24 saw a close-to-average surface mass balance for the Greenland ice sheet
Left: Map showing the difference between the annual SMB in 2023-24 and the 1981-2010 period (in mm of ice melt). Blue shows ice gain compared to average and red shows ice loss with respect to average. Right: Daily (upper chart) and cumulative (lower chart) SMB of the Greenland ice sheet, in Gt/day and Gt, respectively. (1Gt is equal to 1 cubic kilometre.) Blue lines show the 2023-24 SMB year; the grey lines and areas show the 1981-2010 average and variability; and the red line in the lower chart shows the record low SMB year of 2011-12. Credit: DMI Polar Portal.

Heat over Europe and North America, cool over Greenland

While southern Europe sweltered through multiple heatwaves, northern Europe (with the exception of Arctic Scandinavia) had a rather cool and rainy July, followed by a warmer and sunnier late summer. Svalbard also suffered record temperatures and record amounts of glacier loss this year. 

And, yet, Greenland was spared these bouts of heat.

As in previous summer seasons, the comparatively wet and cool spells over the Greenland ice sheet were due to “blocking” weather patterns with ridges over North America and Europe and a trough in between over Greenland.

These high-pressure weather systems have a huge impact on weather extremes. Strong persistent blocks over North America and Europe were present in the course of the summer. This resulted in widespread heat near the cores of these high pressure areas and several heavy rainfall events in various European countries in May and June. 

In such a blocked flow, the jet stream is shaped like the Greek capital letter Omega (Ω). With the jet stream bulging up to the north over Canada and northern Europe, troughs of low pressure are found at each “foot” of the omega – including over Greenland. 

Svalbard was caught in one the opposite part of the omega with high temperatures and warm air directly over the islands, bringing large amounts of ice melt.

This contrast between Greenland on the one side and Svalbard and the eastern part of Canada is also a common pattern and shows how focusing on extremes in one region of the world means missing out on the opposite extreme in a different region.

The maps below show two examples of these recurring circulation patterns from late May/early June and mid-August. The blue shading shows the cool weather over Greenland (in the centre of the map), while the red shading shows the high temperatures over Canada, Europe and Svalbard .

Cool summer weather for Greenland in 2024
Map showing cool summer weather in Greenland (in centre of map) and heat over northern North America and northern and eastern Europe, particularly Fennoscandia (left panel) and Svalbard (right panel). Shading indicates temperatures that are warmer (red) or cooler (blue) than the long-term average for the time of year. The arrows show the circulation patterns in the atmosphere. Credit: DMI Polar Portal.

Snow accumulation

However, the surface mass budget is not just about ice melt.

September, October and November all saw above-average snowfall. Then, as in 2022-23, a rather dry period followed in late winter, followed by spikes in snow in March, April and May.

As a result, the accumulated SMB was close to the 1981-2010 average as melting began.

Subsequently, in June, several large snow fall events brought an emergency blanket back to the ice sheet, delaying the start of the “ablation” – or melt – season to 24 June, 11 days later than the 1981-2010 median. (The ablation season is defined as the first day of three days in a row with an SMB below -1Gt.)

The melt area was well above the average for the period of 1981-2010 during most of June, July and August – despite another spike in snow in August.

The left map shows the area of ice melt on 18 July – the day with the maximum melt extent (67%) of this summer (shaded in red). The map on the right shows the situation at the end of the season on 31 August when the ice sheet was well back into the winter pattern.

The charts beneath show the daily extent of melting across the ice sheet as a percentage (blue line), with the 1981-2010 average shown in grey.

Greenland's melt season in 2024 was mostly above average
Top: Map showing areas of Greenland undergoing surface melt on 18 July and 31 August 2024 (shaded red). Bottom: Percentage of ice sheet area seeing surface melt on each day of 2024 (blue line), ending on 18 July and 31 August, respectively. The grey line shows the 1981-2010 average. Credit: DMI Polar Portal.

The total mass budget

The surface budget is just one component of the “total” mass budget (TMB) of the Greenland ice sheet:

TMB = SMB + MMB + BMB

Here, MMB is the “marine” mass balance, consisting of the breaking off – or “calving” – of icebergs and the melting of the front of glaciers where they meet the warm sea water. BMB is the “basal” mass balance, which refers to ice losses from the base of the ice sheet. This makes a small, but non-zero, contribution to the TMB and mainly consists of frictional effects and the ground heat flux.

The figure below shows how much ice the Greenland ice sheet has lost (red) going back to 1987, which includes the SMB (blue), MMB (green) and BMB (orange).

For 2023-24, the TMB ended with a loss of 80Gt of ice. This means that 2023-24 was the 28th year in a row with a Greenland ice sheet overall mass loss. As the chart shows, Greenland last saw an annual net gain of ice in 1996.

2023-24 was the 28th year in a row where the Greenland ice sheet has lost mass overall
Chart showing the surface (blue), marine (green), basal (yellow) and total (red) mass balance for 1987 to 2024. Figures are in Gt per year. Based on updates to Mankoff et al. (2021)

Satellite data

Using data from the GRACE satellites, we can also estimate how much ice Greenland lost – independently from our calculations above.

The distance of these twin satellites changes slightly due to tiny gravity differences caused by mass changes. In addition, we can measure the speed at which ice flows through control points on the ice sheet where we know the thickness and shape of the ice. Thus, we can estimate MMB, the amount of ice being lost by the process of calving and submarine melting.

This data is openly available, allowing us to monitor the whole ice-sheet budget.

The map and graph below show the gain (blue) and loss (red) in the mass of ice. The difference in these mass changes over a glaciological year (September-August) is the TMB of the ice sheet for that particular year.

Satellite data reveals where the Greenland ice sheet is gaining and losing mass
Gain and loss in the total mass of ice of the Greenland ice sheet based on the GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites, updated until May 2024. Both missions are twin satellites separated by a distance of around 220km. This distance depends on gravity and can be measured very precisely. Gravity changes in turn are related to mass changes for example due to the loss of ice. GRACE was launched in March 2002, and the mission ended in October 2017. GRACE-FO was launched in May 2018. Therefore a gap exists between both missions. Shown is the month-by-month mass change in billions of tonnes (Gt) = cubic kilometres (km3). Also shown is the corresponding contribution to sea level rise; 100Gt is equivalent to 0.28mm of global sea level rise. All changes are given relative to April 2002.

According to the GRACE satellite data, most of the ice loss over 2023-24 occurred along the edge of the ice sheet, in particular along the west coast. This is backed up both by PROMICE observations and model data. In the interior of Greenland, a small increase in ice mass is found, as there is usually little or no snow melt in this region.

The graph illustrates the month-by-month development in changes of mass measured in gigatonnes, relative to April 2002. The left axis on the graph shows how this ice mass loss translates into a sea level rise contribution, where 100Gt corresponds to 0.28mm of global sea level rise.

Our calculations and the GRACE satellite data are entirely independent ways of estimating Greenland’s TMB, yet the results are quite closely aligned. From April 2002 to May 2024, the ice sheet losses amounted to 4,756Gt (calculations) and 4,911Gt (satellites) of ice.

As 1Gt of water is equivalent to a cube of 1 km by 1 km by 1 km, 360 of these cubes is equivalent to 1mm of sea level rise averaged around the whole globe.

This means that, since 2002, the Greenland ice sheet alone has contributed around 14mm to global average sea level rise.

The post Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2024 appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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DeBriefed 27 February 2026: Trump’s fossil-fuel talk | Modi-Lula rare-earth pact | Is there a UK ‘greenlash’? 

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Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week

Absolute State of the Union

‘DRILL, BABY’: US president Donald Trump “doubled down on his ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda” in his State of the Union (SOTU) address, said the Los Angeles Times. He “tout[ed] his support of the fossil-fuel industry and renew[ed] his focus on electricity affordability”, reported the Financial Times. Trump also attacked the “green new scam”, noted Carbon Brief’s SOTU tracker.

COAL REPRIEVE: Earlier in the week, the Trump administration had watered down limits on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, reported the Financial Times. It remains “unclear” if this will be enough to prevent the decline of coal power, said Bloomberg, in the face of lower-cost gas and renewables. Reuters noted that US coal plants are “ageing”.

OIL STAY: The US Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments brought by the oil industry in a “major lawsuit”, reported the New York Times. The newspaper said the firms are attempting to head off dozens of other lawsuits at state level, relating to their role in global warming.

SHIP-SHILLING: The Trump administration is working to “kill” a global carbon levy on shipping “permanently”, reported Politico, after succeeding in delaying the measure late last year. The Guardian said US “bullying” could be “paying off”, after Panama signalled it was reversing its support for the levy in a proposal submitted to the UN shipping body.

Around the world

  • RARE EARTHS: The governments of Brazil and India signed a deal on rare earths, said the Times of India, as well as agreeing to collaborate on renewable energy.
  • HEAT ROLLBACK: German homes will be allowed to continue installing gas and oil heating, under watered-down government plans covered by Clean Energy Wire.
  • BRAZIL FLOODS: At least 53 people died in floods in the state of Minas Gerais, after some areas saw 170mm of rain in a few hours, reported CNN Brasil.
  • ITALY’S ATTACK: Italy is calling for the EU to “suspend” its emissions trading system (ETS) ahead of a review later this year, said Politico.
  • COOKSTOVE CREDITS: The first-ever carbon credits under the Paris Agreement have been issued to a cookstove project in Myanmar, said Climate Home News.
  • SAUDI SOLAR: Turkey has signed a “major” solar deal that will see Saudi firm ACWA building 2 gigawatts in the country, according to Agence France-Presse.

$467 billion

The profits made by five major oil firms since prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago, according to a report by Global Witness covered by BusinessGreen.


Latest climate research

  • Claims about the “fingerprint” of human-caused climate change, made in a recent US Department of Energy report, are “factually incorrect” | AGU Advances
  • Large lakes in the Congo Basin are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from “immense ancient stores” | Nature Geoscience
  • Shared Socioeconomic Pathways – scenarios used regularly in climate modelling – underrepresent “narratives explicitly centring on democratic principles such as participation, accountability and justice” | npj Climate Action

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

The constituency of Richard Tice MP, the climate-sceptic deputy leader of Reform UK, is the second-largest recipient of flood defence spending in England, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. Overall, the funding is disproportionately targeted at coastal and urban areas, many of which have Conservative or Liberal Democrat MPs.

Spotlight

Is there really a UK ‘greenlash’?

This week, after a historic Green Party byelection win, Carbon Brief looks at whether there really is a “greenlash” against climate policy in the UK.

Over the past year, the UK’s political consensus on climate change has been shattered.

Yet despite a sharp turn against climate action among right-wing politicians and right-leaning media outlets, UK public support for climate action remains strong.

Prof Federica Genovese, who studies climate politics at the University of Oxford, told Carbon Brief:

“The current ‘war’ on green policy is mostly driven by media and political elites, not by the public.”

Indeed, there is still a greater than two-to-one majority among the UK public in favour of the country’s legally binding target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, as shown below.

Steve Akehurst, director of public-opinion research initiative Persuasion UK, also noted the growing divide between the public and “elites”. He told Carbon Brief:

“The biggest movement is, without doubt, in media and elite opinion. There is a bit more polarisation and opposition [to climate action] among voters, but it’s typically no more than 20-25% and mostly confined within core Reform voters.”

Conservative gear shift

For decades, the UK had enjoyed strong, cross-party political support for climate action.

Lord Deben, the Conservative peer and former chair of the Climate Change Committee, told Carbon Brief that the UK’s landmark 2008 Climate Change Act had been born of this cross-party consensus, saying “all parties supported it”.

Since their landslide loss at the 2024 election, however, the Conservatives have turned against the UK’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050, which they legislated for in 2019.

Curiously, while opposition to net-zero has surged among Conservative MPs, there is majority support for the target among those that plan to vote for the party, as shown below.

Dr Adam Corner, advisor to the Climate Barometer initiative that tracks public opinion on climate change, told Carbon Brief that those who currently plan to vote Reform are the only segment who “tend to be more opposed to net-zero goals”. He said:

“Despite the rise in hostile media coverage and the collapse of the political consensus, we find that public support for the net-zero by 2050 target is plateauing – not plummeting.”

Reform, which rejects the scientific evidence on global warming and campaigns against net-zero, has been leading the polls for a year. (However, it was comfortably beaten by the Greens in yesterday’s Gorton and Denton byelection.)

Corner acknowledged that “some of the anti-net zero noise…[is] showing up in our data”, adding:

“We see rising concerns about the near-term costs of policies and an uptick in people [falsely] attributing high energy bills to climate initiatives.”

But Akehurst said that, rather than a big fall in public support, there had been a drop in the “salience” of climate action:

“So many other issues [are] competing for their attention.”

UK newspapers published more editorials opposing climate action than supporting it for the first time on record in 2025, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Global ‘greenlash’?

All of this sits against a challenging global backdrop, in which US president Donald Trump has been repeating climate-sceptic talking points and rolling back related policy.

At the same time, prominent figures have been calling for a change in climate strategy, sold variously as a “reset”, a “pivot”, as “realism”, or as “pragmatism”.

Genovese said that “far-right leaders have succeeded in the past 10 years in capturing net-zero as a poster child of things they are ‘fighting against’”.

She added that “much of this is fodder for conservative media and this whole ecosystem is essentially driving what we call the ‘greenlash’”.

Corner said the “disconnect” between elite views and the wider public “can create problems” – for example, “MPs consistently underestimate support for renewables”. He added:

“There is clearly a risk that the public starts to disengage too, if not enough positive voices are countering the negative ones.”

Watch, read, listen

TRUMP’S ‘PETROSTATE’: The US is becoming a “petrostate” that will be “sicker and poorer”, wrote Financial Times associate editor Rana Forohaar.

RHETORIC VS REALITY: Despite a “political mood [that] has darkened”, there is “more green stuff being installed than ever”, said New York Times columnist David Wallace-Wells.
CHINA’S ‘REVOLUTION’: The BBC’s Climate Question podcast reported from China on the “green energy revolution” taking place in the country.

Coming up

Pick of the jobs

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

The post DeBriefed 27 February 2026: Trump’s fossil-fuel talk | Modi-Lula rare-earth pact | Is there a UK ‘greenlash’?  appeared first on Carbon Brief.

DeBriefed 27 February 2026: Trump’s fossil-fuel talk | Modi-Lula rare-earth pact | Is there a UK ‘greenlash’? 

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Pacific nations want higher emissions charges if shipping talks reopen

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Seven Pacific island nations say they will demand heftier levies on global shipping emissions if opponents of a green deal for the industry succeed in reopening negotiations on the stalled accord.

The United States and Saudi Arabia persuaded countries not to grant final approval to the International Maritime Organization’s Net-Zero Framework (NZF) in October and they are now leading a drive for changes to the deal.

In a joint submission seen by Climate Home News, the seven climate-vulnerable Pacific countries said the framework was already a “fragile compromise”, and vowed to push for a universal levy on all ship emissions, as well as higher fees . The deal currently stipulates that fees will be charged when a vessel’s emissions exceed a certain level.

“For many countries, the NZF represents the absolute limit of what they can accept,” said the unpublished submission by Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.

The countries said a universal levy and higher charges on shipping would raise more funds to enable a “just and equitable transition leaving no country behind”. They added, however, that “despite its many shortcomings”, the framework should be adopted later this year.

US allies want exemption for ‘transition fuels’

The previous attempt to adopt the framework failed after governments narrowly voted to postpone it by a year. Ahead of the vote, the US threatened governments and their officials with sanctions, tariffs and visa restrictions – and President Donald Trump called the framework a “Green New Scam Tax on Shipping”.

Since then, Liberia – an African nation with a major low-tax shipping registry headquartered in the US state of Virginia – has proposed a new measure under which, rather than staying fixed under the NZF, ships’ emissions intensity targets change depending on “demonstrated uptake” of both “low-carbon and zero-carbon fuels”.

The proposal places stringent conditions on what fuels are taken into consideration when setting these targets, stressing that the low- and zero-carbon fuels should be “scalable”, not cost more than 15% more than standard marine fuels and should be available at “sufficient ports worldwide”.

This proposal would not “penalise transitional fuels” like natural gas and biofuels, they said. In the last decade, the US has built a host of large liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals, which the Trump administration is lobbying other countries to purchase from.

The draft motion, seen by Climate Home News, was co-sponsored by US ally Argentina and also by Panama, a shipping hub whose canal the US has threatened to annex. Both countries voted with the US to postpone the last vote on adopting the framework.

    The IMO’s Panamanian head Arsenio Dominguez told reporters in January that changes to the framework were now possible.

    “It is clear from what happened last year that we need to look into the concerns that have been expressed [and] … make sure that they are somehow addressed within the framework,” he said.

    Patchwork of levies

    While the European Union pushed firmly for the framework’s adoption, two of its shipping-reliant member states – Greece and Cyprus – abstained in October’s vote.

    After a meeting between the Greek shipping minister and Saudi Arabia’s energy minister in January, Greece said a “common position” united Greece, Saudi Arabia and the US on the framework.

    If the NZF or a similar instrument is not adopted, the IMO has warned that there will be a patchwork of differing regional levies on pollution – like the EU’s emissions trading system for ships visiting its ports – which will be complicated and expensive to comply with.

    This would mean that only countries with their own levies and with lots of ships visiting their ports would raise funds, making it harder for other nations to fund green investments in their ports, seafarers and shipping companies. In contrast, under the NZF, revenues would be disbursed by the IMO to all nations based on set criteria.

    Anais Rios, shipping policy officer from green campaign group Seas At Risk, told Climate Home News the proposal by the Pacific nations for a levy on all shipping emissions – not just those above a certain threshold – was “the most credible way to meet the IMO’s climate goals”.

    “With geopolitics reframing climate policy, asking the IMO to reopen the discussion on the universal levy is the only way to decarbonise shipping whilst bringing revenue to manage impacts fairly,” Rios said.

    “It is […] far stronger than the Net-Zero Framework that is currently on offer.”

    The post Pacific nations want higher emissions charges if shipping talks reopen appeared first on Climate Home News.

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    Doubts over European SAF rules threaten cleaner aviation hopes, investors warn

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    Doubts over whether governments will maintain ambitious targets on boosting the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) are a threat to the industry’s growth and play into the hands of fossil fuel companies, investors warned this week.

    Several executives from airlines and oil firms have forecast recently that SAF requirements in the European Union, United Kingdom and elsewhere will be eased or scrapped altogether, potentially upending the aviation industry’s main policy to shrink air travel’s growing carbon footprint.

    Such speculation poses a “fundamental threat” to the SAF industry, which mainly produces an alternative to traditional kerosene jet fuel using organic feedstocks such as used cooking oil (UCO), Thomas Engelmann, head of energy transition at German investment manager KGAL, told the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Investor conference in London.

    He said fossil fuel firms would be the only winners from questions about compulsory SAF blending requirements.

    What is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)?

    The EU and the UK introduced the world’s first SAF mandates in January 2025, requiring fuel suppliers to blend at least 2% SAF with fossil fuel kerosene. The blending requirement will gradually increase to reach 32% in the EU and 22% in the UK by 2040.

    Another case of diluted green rules?

    Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, CEO of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné said he would bet “that what happened to the car regulation will happen to the SAF regulation in Europe”. 

    The EU watered down green rules for car-makers in March 2025 after lobbying from car companies, Germany and Italy.

    “You will see. Today all the airline companies are fighting [against the EU’s 2030 SAF target of 6%],” Pouyanne said, even though it’s “easy to reach to be honest”.

    While most European airline lobbies publicly support the mandates, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said last year that the SAF is “nonsense” and is “gradually dying a death, which is what it deserves to do”.

    EU and UK stand by SAF targets

    But the EU and the British government have disputed that. EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said in November that the EU’s targets are “stable”, warning that “investment decisions and construction must start by 2027, or we will miss the 2030 targets”.

    UK aviation minister Keir Mather told this week’s investor event that meeting the country’s SAF blending requirement of 10% by 2030 was “ambitious but, with the right investment, the right innovation and the right outlook, it is absolutely within our reach”.

    “We need to go further and we need to go faster,” Mather said.

    UK aviation minister Keir Mather speaks at the SAF Investor conference in London on February 24, 2026. (Photo: SAF Investor)

    SAF investors and developers said such certainty on SAF mandates from policymakers was key to drawing the necessary investment to ramp up production of the greener fuel, which needs to scale up in order to bring down high production costs. Currently, SAF is between two and seven times more expensive than traditional jet fuel. 

    Urbano Perez, global clean molecules lead at Spanish bank Santander, said banks will not invest if there is a perceived regulatory risk.

    David Scott, chair of Australian SAF producer Jet Zero Australia, said developing SAF was already challenging due to the risks of “pretty new” technology requiring high capital expenditure.

    “That’s a scary model with a volatile political environment, so mandate questioning creates this problem on steroids”, Scott said.

    Others played down the risk. Glenn Morgan, partner at investment and advisory firm SkiesFifty, said “policy is always a risk”, adding that traditional oil-based jet fuel could also lose subsidies.

    A fuel truck fills up the Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300ER with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), during a milestone demonstration flight while running one of its engines on 100% (SAF) at Dubai airport, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana

    A fuel truck fills up the Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300ER with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), during a milestone demonstration flight while running one of its engines on 100% (SAF) at Dubai airport, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana

    Asian countries join SAF mandate adopters

    In Asia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Japan have recently adopted SAF mandates, and Matti Lievonen, CEO of Asia-based SAF producer EcoCeres, predicted that China, Indonesia and Hong Kong would follow suit.

    David Fisken, investment director at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, said the Australian government, which does not have a mandate, was watching to see how the EU and UK’s requirements played out.

    The US does not have a SAF mandate and under President Donald Trump the government has slashed tax credits available for SAF producers from $1.75 a gallon to $1.

    Is the world’s big idea for greener air travel a flight of fancy?

    SAF and energy security

    SAF’s potential role in boosting energy security was a major theme of this week’s discussions as geopolitical tensions push the issue to the fore.

    Marcella Franchi, chief commercial officer for SAF at France’s Haffner Energy, said the Canadian government, which has “very unsettling neighbours at the moment”, was looking to produce SAF to protect its energy security, especially as it has ample supplies of biomass to use as potential feedstock.

    Similarly, German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall said last year it was working on plans that would enable European armed forces to produce their own synthetic, carbon-neutral fuel “locally and independently of global fossil fuel supply chain”.

    Scott said Australia needs SAF to improve its fuel security, as it imports almost 99% of its liquid fuels.

    He added that support for Australian SAF production is bipartisan, in part because it appeals to those more concerned about energy security than tackling climate change.

    The post Doubts over European SAF rules threaten cleaner aviation hopes, investors warn appeared first on Climate Home News.

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