Social acceptance matters

Synthetic aviation fuel (SAF) isn’t just a jet fuel problem; it’s also a public political and local siting issue.  For SAF to scale people need to accept the feedstocks facilities transport networks and policy choices that support it.

SAF development depends on social license to operate, especially for infrastructure such as biorefineries, waste collection systems, storage facilities, blending terminals, and any new production plants. Research on SAF acceptance indicates that infrastructure
technologies rely on community acceptance of siting decisions and local projects, while public and stakeholder acceptance shape broader policy support.

This is an important part of our current work within the S-LCA services we provide for SusAlageFuel. Without this local acceptance, projects can face delays, higher costs, legal challenges, or outright opposition. Our aim is to provide transparency and data-driven information, and to be a local presence in building feedstock collection, processing, and SAF production facilities, so we can address any concerns that may arise from local communities.

The Irish SAF roadmap, published in 2025, emphasises stakeholder engagement and collaboration across government, airlines, airports, freight carriers, academia, and other groups, demonstrating that deployment is
treated as a coordination challenge rather than just an engineering one. That kind of engagement helps build trust early, which is critical when infrastructure must be planned before a mature SAF market exists.

In practice, social acceptance turns SAF from a promising idea into a buildable system: one that communities are willing to host, policymakers are willing to support, and customers are willing to use, directly or indirectly, as may be the case for SAF.