Staff of Microsoft and Shopify will quickly be capable of use a novel strategy to decreasing business-travel emissions because of the opening of a pioneering facility that makes use of renewable power to rework carbon dioxide and water into low-carbon jet gasoline.
The power, in Moses Lake, Washington, is operated by Twelve, a startup that spent the previous decade creating its strategy to manufacturing sustainable aviation gasoline (SAF). The gasoline will probably be utilized by a number of carriers, together with Alaska Airways, which can promote the related emissions credit to Microsoft and different companions.
First of a form
Twelve’s plant, referred to as AirPlant One, will produce a comparatively small quantity of “eSAF”: 50,000 gallons yearly, in comparison with the 1.1 million gallons Alaska’s planes burned in 2025. However the plant’s opening is a milestone nonetheless, argued Ryan Spies, managing director for sustainability on the airline. “It’s at all times so arduous to get the primary of something constructed,” he mentioned. “And within the gasoline house most likely 10 occasions tougher.”
The know-how inside AirPlant One makes use of renewable power to rework CO2 and water into an artificial crude oil that may then be refined to supply eSAF and different merchandise. Twelve claims that the lifecycle emissions related to its eSAF are as much as 90 % decrease than typical fossil-based jet gasoline. It’s additionally significantly dearer: Nicholas Flanders, Twelve’s CEO and co-founder, declined to share the associated fee, however business estimates peg eSAF as 5 to 10 occasions dearer than typical gasoline.
Price curve
The premium is roofed, at the least at current, by corporations that wish to assist the expansion of eSAF and scale back enterprise journey emissions. Below the settlement with Alaska and Twelve, Microsoft and different patrons will obtain credit that may be netted towards Scope 3 emissions. Spies didn’t specify a value for eSAF credit, however famous that credit on the broader SAF market, which incorporates gasoline created from used cooking oil and different waste biomass, value between $100 and $600 per ton of carbon dioxide equal, relying on manufacturing technique and regulatory incentives.
The eSAF business can even quickly have regulatory assist. Below the European Union’s RefuelEU aviation program, airports within the bloc have been required to make use of 2 % SAF in 2025, rising to 70 % in 2050. A separate sub-mandate for eSAF will start at 1.2 % in 2030 and attain 35 % by 2050.
Scale will probably be important if eSAF producers are to chop prices and develop into aggressive with different types of SAF. Flanders mentioned that Twelve, which closed a $645 million funding spherical in 2024 and has a contract to provide 5 European airways with 260 million gallons of eSAF, is planning an AirPlant Two facility that can produce tens of hundreds of thousands of gallons yearly.