Gevo executive says durable policy support is key to sustainable aviation fuel growth
Erin Heitkamp, a vice president at US bioenergy firm Gevo, told Korea Economic Daily that oil price spikes tied to Middle East conflict have lifted interest in sustainable aviation fuel. But she said only continuity in government policy can attract the investors needed to grow the market. Gevo produces SAF from feedstocks including corn.
Oil price spikes renew focus on sustainable aviation fuel
Rising crude oil prices driven by conflict in the Middle East have intensified interest in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), according to Erin Heitkamp, a vice president at US bioenergy company Gevo. In an interview with South Korea's Korea Economic Daily published on the 15th, Heitkamp said the surge in oil prices has drawn fresh attention to alternatives to conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel.
The comment reflects a recurring pattern in the aviation-fuel market: when fossil jet fuel becomes more expensive, the cost gap between it and cleaner alternatives narrows, and airlines and fuel buyers look more closely at substitutes. SAF, which can be blended with conventional jet fuel and used in existing aircraft and infrastructure, is widely seen as the main near-term option for reducing aviation emissions.
Why policy continuity matters
Heitkamp's central argument was that higher oil prices, on their own, are not enough to build a durable SAF industry. Growing the market, she said, depends on continuity in government policy. Only when policy support is stable and predictable will investors step forward, and only then can the industry expand.
The logic is straightforward for anyone weighing a SAF project. Production plants are capital-intensive and take years to plan, finance and build. Investors committing money to that kind of long-lived asset need confidence that the policy framework underpinning demand and economics will still be in place years later. Frequent changes, or the threat of them, raise the risk premium and can stall projects before they reach a final investment decision. That is why producers such as Gevo tie the pace of industry growth less to the day-to-day oil price and more to the reliability of the rules around it.
Corn-based feedstock
Gevo produces SAF from feedstocks including corn, Heitkamp noted. Using an agricultural crop as a raw material links the fuel's economics to farm markets as well as to energy markets, and connects aviation-fuel policy to agricultural supply. It also means feedstock availability and cost sit alongside policy as factors shaping how quickly output can rise.
An oil-price boost that may not last
The interview points to a tension at the center of the SAF business. Conflict-driven oil price spikes can improve the relative economics of alternative fuels quickly, but they are volatile and can reverse just as fast. A temporary widening of the price gap does not, by itself, justify the multi-year investment needed to build new capacity. For that reason, industry voices like Heitkamp's frame stable, long-term policy rather than short-term market swings as the decisive factor in whether SAF supply scales up.
Heitkamp's remarks were made to the Korea Economic Daily, underlining interest in the fuel among South Korean readers and industry participants as the country and its airlines weigh their own exposure to aviation-fuel costs and emissions rules.
For fuel buyers, airlines and producers alike, the message is that the SAF market's trajectory will be set less by any single price shock and more by whether governments hold their support steady long enough for new plants to be financed and built.
