Canada’s SAF Blueprint: From Ambition to Action
In July, Canada has released its Sustainable Aviation Fuels Blueprint , setting out a pathway to develop a domestic SAF market and support the country’s ambition of 10% SAF use by 2030, estimated to approximately one billion liters annually.
The Blueprint is not a SAF mandate. Rather, it identifies the barriers Canada must overcome, potential actions government and industry can take to increase SAF production.
What does it mean for Canada?
Canada has significant advantages: agricultural and forestry feedstocks, refining and energy expertise, technology capabilities and a substantial aviation market. Yet a commercial SAF industry has been slow to develop.
The Blueprint recognizes that reaching the 2030 goal through domestic production alone is a very optimistic target. Canada will need a combination of domestic production and imported SAF, both in the near term and as the industry grows.
The challenge is therefore to turn Canada's natural advantages into an investable market. That means creating stronger demand signals, reducing investment risk, developing supply chains and infrastructure, supporting new technologies and addressing the significant price difference between SAF and conventional jet fuel.
How does Canada compare with Europe?
Europe has taken a more regulatory approach. Under ReFuelEU Aviation, the European Union requires SAF to represent at least 2% of aviation fuel in 2025, increasing to 6% in 2030 and 70% by 2050, with additional requirements for synthetic e-fuels (made from renewable electricity).
Canada's 10% goal for 2030 is higher on paper than Europe's 6%, but there is an important difference: Canada's target is aspirational, while Europe's is binding.
For investors, that distinction matters. Binding requirements provide greater certainty that a market for SAF will exist but it does not guarantee cost competitiveness nor does it promote local SAF production without additional incentives. At the same time, Canada should not simply replicate the European model. Its approach must reflect Canadian geography, feedstocks, aviation economics and the need to remain competitive with neighboring markets.
Positioning Canada to compete… and lead!
Canada has an opportunity to become more than a consumer of SAF. With the right framework, it can develop a competitive SAF industry that attracts investment, creates domestic production capacity and positions Canadian companies within a rapidly developing global market.
The Blueprint itself recognizes that investment is more likely to flow toward jurisdictions offering stable long-term policies, established supply chains and reduced project risk.
The way forward will therefore require a balance: creating enough certainty to attract SAF investment while ensuring the transition does not place Canadian aviation at a competitive disadvantage.
C-SAF: bringing the ecosystem together
The Canadian Council for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (C-SAF) has helped bring stakeholders across the SAF value chain together around the development of a Canadian market. Its roadmap identified priorities including policy, sustainability, feedstocks, production capacity, technology and innovation.
With the Blueprint now released, C-SAF can continue supporting collaboration across airlines, airports, producers, feedstock suppliers, governments and investors to help translate the framework into concrete action.
ATAC: Supporting members through the transition
For ATAC, SAF is also an important competitiveness issue for its members.
As Canada determines how the Blueprint will translate into policy, ATAC continues to advocate for conditions that allow Canadian operators to participate in the transition while remaining competitive with carriers in neighboring jurisdictions, particularly the United States.
This includes emphasizing the importance of adequate SAF supply and infrastructure, appropriate government support and careful consideration of the potential additional costs imposed on operators and passengers. The Blueprint itself recognizes this challenge, with user-pay model, additional SAF costs are likely to be passed on to consumers.
Through its advocacy, ATAC can help ensure that the perspectives of Canadian operators are part of the discussion while supporting a broader objective: giving Canada the conditions to compete and potentially take a leading position in the emerging global SAF market.
The Blueprint sets the direction. The next step is turning Canada's SAF ambition into investment, production and competitive advantage.
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