Canada Unveils SAF Blueprint: 10% Use Goal by 2030

Canada now has a national roadmap to hit 10 percent sustainable aviation fuel use by 2030, about one billion litres a year (Transport Canada, 2026). Transport Canada's new Sustainable Aviation Fuels Blueprint lays out seven pillars of action to get there. British Columbia already shows the approach can work in practice.

The Blueprint was developed with Deloitte, the Sustainable Aviation Task Force, and the Canadian Council for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (C-SAF). C-SAF is a national organization of more than 60 airlines and industry members that co-led the report's development.

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What Does Canada's New SAF Blueprint Actually Say?

The Blueprint sets out seven pillars of action to help Canada reach its aspirational goal of 10 percent SAF use by 2030 (Transport Canada, 2026). It builds on Canada's Aviation Climate Action Plan, first released in 2022.

The pillars target three core barriers to SAF growth. These barriers are high cost, investment risk, and limited global supply. Individual pillars cover strategic partnerships, de-risking investment, supply chains, codes and standards, technology development, emissions accounting, and public education.

• SAF costs 2 to 8 times more than conventional jet fuel today (Transport Canada, 2026)
• No commercial SAF production facility currently operates in Canada (Transport Canada, 2026)
• Announced Canadian SAF projects already total more than one billion litres of potential yearly capacity (Transport Canada, 2026)

Canadian air carriers released 22 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 (Transport Canada, 2026). That marks a 23 percent increase since 2005. The Blueprint frames SAF as the most commercially ready tool available today. It works as a drop-in replacement in existing aircraft engines, with no modifications needed.

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How Much Fuel Does the 10% Target Represent?

Canada's 10 percent goal equals roughly one billion litres of SAF used every year by 2030 (Transport Canada, 2026). Total Canadian jet fuel demand is projected to reach approximately 10.6 billion litres that same year, according to Canadian Energy Regulator estimates.

Canada's refineries already produced 6.4 billion litres of conventional jet fuel in 2024 (Statistics Canada, 2024). Much of that fuel serves the domestic market. Some is exported to the United States and China. The refining base already exists. What is missing is dedicated SAF production layered on top of it.

Global SAF output is growing fast, even from a small base. Production doubled year over year for three straight years (International Air Transport Association, 2024).

Year	Global SAF Production (million litres)
2021	99.9
2022	300
2023	600
2024	1,300
2025 (projected)	2,700

Source: International Air Transport Association, 2024

Is British Columbia Proof That SAF Policy Works?

British Columbia's results suggest yes. Low carbon jet fuel reached 3.9 percent of the province's total jet fuel supply in 2025 (Government of British Columbia, 2026). That figure beat B.C.'s own volumetric requirement of 3 percent by 2030. The province hit the mark five years early. B.C.'s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has required lower carbon intensity in aviation fuel since 2026. A separate renewable content mandate is set to start at 1 percent in 2028, then rise to 3 percent by 2030.

Across all fuel categories, B.C.'s clean fuel rules avoided more than 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 (Government of British Columbia, 2026). Cumulatively since 2010, the province has avoided over 32.7 million tons. Similar public-private coordination already underpins Canada's direct air capture protocol, one of the country's other major carbon management frameworks.

How Does Canada's Target Compare to the U.S. and U.K.?

Canada's 10 percent by 2030 goal sits in the middle of the pack globally. The United States is chasing 11.3 billion litres of domestic SAF production by 2030 under its SAF Grand Challenge. That target is backed by an estimated 44 billion U.S. dollars in announced investment.

The United Kingdom takes a different approach. Instead of an aspirational goal, it uses a binding supplier mandate. The mandate started at 2 percent in 2025. It rises on a straight line to 10 percent by 2030, then 22 percent by 2040.

Jurisdiction	2030 SAF Target	Policy Type
Canada	10% (about 1 billion litres)	Aspirational goal
United States	11.3 billion litres	Incentive-driven target
United Kingdom	10%, rising to 22% by 2040	Binding supplier mandate
European Union	6%, rising to 70% by 2050	Binding blending mandate

What Projects Are Already Building Toward the Goal?

Several Canadian projects are moving ahead of the Blueprint's release. In Québec, Boeing is putting 10 million Canadian dollars into Project Avance, a sawmill-residue SAF facility. Production there is expected to start in 2027.

Ontario is backing a different feedstock path. The province committed 5.5 million Canadian dollars to a wood-based SAF demonstration plant in Thunder Bay. The project will use mill byproducts and underused wood fibre.

These regional projects sit under the national framework the Blueprint just formalized. Similar coordination has already scaled hydrogen hub development on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Canada's Blueprint draws on comparable public-private structures.

Carbon removal projects show the same government-industry model working nearby. Deep Sky's direct air capture deployment in Montreal is one example.

Momentum is building across North America too. Record U.S. SAF production volumes and on-airport SAF production in Pittsburgh both point the same direction. Even the recent retention of U.S. federal funding for hydrogen and carbon storage hubs signals durable policy support region-wide.

The Runway Ahead

Canada's Blueprint does not pretend the path is easy. SAF still costs 2 to 8 times more than jet fuel. No Canadian facility has reached a final investment decision yet.

But the document gives industry something it lacked before. It offers a coordinated federal framework built with input from over 90 stakeholders across the aviation and fuels value chain. Combined with B.C.'s early results, Canada now has both a plan and proof that the plan can work.

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