Ultra Carbon-Negative Sustainable Aviation Fuel
North America
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Strategy
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Messaging
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PR
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Carbontech
The aviation industry currently emits more than 900 million metric tons of CO2 per year globally. Countries like the UK and global organizations like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) are driving immediate and long term net zero mandates and goals that are already transforming the aviation ecosystem, with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) emerging as an ideal solution. Modeling by the International Air Transport Association expects the global use of SAF to deliver 65 percent of the emissions reductions required for the aviation sector to reach net zero by 2050. However, most of today’s SAF comes from used cooking oil (UCO) that is imported and has a positive carbon intensity (CI) score, which doesn’t set up the global aviation industry for true carbon abatement.
To help address the demand for SAF, Pathway Energy, a developer of ultra carbon-negative fuels projects, emerged from stealth and simultaneously debuted its plans for its first ‘ultra negative’ sustainable aviation fuel facility on the US Gulf Coast. The $2B facility, which will employ carbon capture from day one, will be one of the largest decarbonization projects globally, and will produce 30 million gallons of SAF a year, which is enough fuel to abate 6,000 long-haul flights annually (equal to 1.9 million tons of CO2 annually).
Concurrently, Pathway announced its strategic partnership with Drax Global to provide over 1 million tonnes of sustainable biomass pellets each year to Pathway’s facility, which has the potential to be the largest supply agreement Drax’s pellet business has ever made.
Leveraging a trio of announcements in a single day, MC2 created a cohesive narrative to drive the impact of Pathway’s progress in advancing the domestic sustainable fuels market. Leveraging Pathway Energy’s strategic location on the Gulf Coast, a hub of oil & gas production where the company will take advantage of the area’s skilled workforce and existing infrastructure, we connected Pathway with key reporters from top-tier business, financial, local and trade publications, including Bloomberg, Reuters, Houston Business Journal, Heatmap News and more.
In April 2025, based on a MC2 submission, Pathway was named a finalist in Reuters’ Global Energy Transition 2025 “Decarbonization Excellence” award, along with MC2 client and Pathway investor, GDEV.