Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund Propels Completion of LanzaJet’s First SAF Plant
LanzaJet
— a sustainable fuels technology company and renewable fuels producer launched
in 2020 by carbon-recycling innovator
LanzaTech — announced it has
secured financing for its Freedom Pines Fuels plant in Soperton, Georgia,
through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund — also launched in 2020, as part of
Microsoft’s commitment to become carbon-positive by
2030
— has made a $50M investment to support the construction of LanzaJet’s (and the
world’s) first alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production plant.
The financing will enable LanzaJet to bring lower-cost sustainable aviation fuel
and renewable diesel to the global market.
LanzaJet is dedicated to accelerating the energy transition in sectors where
decarbonization is hard, such as
aviation
and maritime. By working to commercialize SAF, LanzaJet creates regional jobs
while enabling global decarbonization of the aviation sector. The LanzaJet
process can use any source of low-carbon intensity, sustainable ethanol for fuel
production.
This investment will also enable LanzaJet to catalyze the market for
2nd-generation, waste-based ethanol feedstock — demonstrating clear demand
signals for ethanol that can achieve greater carbon and cost reductions. The
Freedom Pines Fuels plant is expected to achieve mechanical completion this year
and begin producing 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel per year from
sustainable ethanol, including from waste-based feedstocks, in 2023.
“We know that creating the change which our world desperately needs requires
perseverance, innovation and like-minded partnerships,” said LanzaJet CEO
Jimmy Samartzis. “We are thrilled to bring on Microsoft and its Climate
Innovation Fund to help us build our first-of-its-kind sustainable fuels plant
in Georgia. The partnership with Microsoft is more than just financing — it
advances our work towards net-zero fuels; enables lower-cost sustainable fuels
into the market; and supports the urgency to have real, proven technologies
scale-up and deploy.”
Demand for sustainable fuels is increasing, and governments such as the US
and the UK are leading the transition by encouraging sustainable fuel
production. The Biden administration set a goal for achieving net-zero
aviation emissions by
2050,
and the EU aims to increase the amount of SAF blended to 63 percent by 2050.
In September of 2021, the White House announced a target of 3 billion gallons of
SAF produced per year by 2030. As part of that announcement, LanzaJet pledged to
produce 1B gallons of SAF in the US by 2030, significantly supporting the
ambitions of the country and the World Economic Forum’s Target True Zero
initiative — a group of airlines that made fresh commitments on this
front
at COP26.
The investment was made as part of Microsoft’s efforts to achieve its 2030 goal
of becoming carbon negative and advancing a net-zero economy. It also allows
Microsoft to access sustainable, renewable diesel for its data centers to enable
the tech giant to further achieve its net-zero goals.
“With this investment, we support LanzaJet in creating new pathways to help
companies across industries achieve net-zero carbon through the use of
sustainable fuels,” said Brandon Middaugh, Director of Microsoft’s Climate
Innovation Fund. “Decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries and technologies will
be essential to achieving our carbon-reduction goals by 2030. We look forward to
working with LanzaJet to accelerate the global development and deployment of
high-quality, sustainable fuels technologies.”
Private sector investment and government support are crucial to enabling the
development and scale-up of new technologies to curb carbon emissions as the
world works to avoid catastrophic climate change. The development of LanzaJet’s
Freedom Pines Fuels plant is also supported by funding from the U.S. Department
of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office.