Canada will invest C$6.2m ($4.6m) into a new study looking to support the growth of a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry in the country and build a factory in Manitoba. 

The combined investment into a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study by Azure Sustainable Fuels includes C$5m from the Clean Fuels Fund and will be joined by a C$3m investment by the Province of Manitoba. 

Minister of Energy and Natual Resources Jonathan Wilkinson marked the funding as “a significant investment to seize global economic opportunities and help position Manitoba and Canada as leaders in the future of SAF production. These clean fuel projects will help create good jobs and grow the economy, all while reducing pollution on the path to net zero.” 

Total investments into the project, which includes funding from the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), come to C$12.3m, allowing Azure to further its work developing a factory in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba using Candian feedstocks such as canola and soybean oils to create the low-emissions fuel. 

It follows a similar investment by Natural Resources Canada in June 2023 when Azure was granted C$5m through the Clean Fuels Fund for a project in British Columbia as it looks to developed the first SAF-dedicated production facility of scale in Canada. 

Azure CEO Douglas Cole said: “We believe that a Canadian SAF facility is a ‘win-win-win’ scenario for all Canadians, its agricultural industry and its aviation industry in that SAF from our facility reduces emissions by up to 80 percent, creates long-term, stable demand for Canadian agriculture products that are currently exported and supports the airline industry in reaching its climate goals.” 

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The Azure investments are just a small part of the funding from the Clean Fuels Fund, which is designed to invest C$1.5bn into the production of clean fuels in Canada such as hydrogen, biofuels, and synthetic fuels.

Canada is just one of many countries investing into domestic SAF production as the aviation industry looks to expedite the growth of the fuel to cater for the growing demand needed to reach emissions targets. 

In November 2023, the UK invested another £53m into its Advanced Fuel Fund to support nine SAF projects and further the country’s ambitions to become a “SAF superpower”.