In this episode of The SAF Podcast, we go behind the curtain of UK sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) policy with former Aviation Minister and former Member of Parliament for the UK Robert Courts. 

Listeners will gain a rare glimpse into the complexities of government policymaking—from managing cross-departmental collaboration and limited civil service bandwidth to ensuring stakeholder engagement and long-term adaptability.

Courts candidly addresses industry concerns about implementation timelines, revealing the unavoidable bandwidth limitations within government and the necessity of thorough consultation. He takes us through the formation of the Jet Zero Council (now Task Force), explaining how it transformed the government-industry relationship from policy being "done to" industry to being developed "with" industry. We also discuss the Green Fuels Green Skies competition which paved the way for the Advanced Fuel Fund which has given grants to numerous leading SAF production technology developers in the UK. 

This collaborative approach has survived changes in government precisely because sustainable aviation enjoys broad cross-party support.

You can also find out about the process of developing policy, exemplified by the development of the Revenue Certainty Mechanism. We look at the pros and cons of this long process and actually discuss why these processes are in place. 

We finish by looking at the big challenges in developing the infrastructure for domestic SAF production as well as what policy makers wish industry understood more about the policy making process. 

Make sure you check this episode out to get behind the process of policy development and why policy takes the shape it does. 

Find out previous episode where we looked at the investment landscape in the UK and where investment is going here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2202964/episodes/16944093