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New participants join Steering Committee overseeing the development of the Ethiopian SAF Roadmap

RSB is pleased to announce that the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) and the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC) have recently joined the national Steering Committee that is guiding the development of the Ethiopian SAF Roadmap.

The Steering Committee was set up in late 2019 following the signing of a MOU with the Ethiopian government and is tasked to provide support, access to information and network, and oversight to the development of a national roadmap that will identify the necessary steps for the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) in Ethiopia. Committee members include Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute, Ethiopian Agricultural Research Council Secretariat, Addis Ababa University, Rural Energy Development and Promotion Centre, Ethiopian Petroleum Supplies Enterprise, Oil Companies’ Association, and the RSB.

Steering committee members during the meeting held on 16 February 2021.

From left to right: Shiferaw Nora (ECAA), Wondimu Mathewos (Ethiopian Airlines), Netsanet Abebe (MoTI), Yitatek Yitbarek (RSB), Nadew Tadele (MoMP), Ayalneh Medagnaw (EPSE), Fantahun Woldesenbet (EBTI), Girma Tadesse (Oil companies Association), Hailu Tekleab (REDPC)

The Ethiopian SAF Roadmap is expected to provide guidance on the steps needed in order to develop SAF in a way that contributes to local socio-economic development and uses the country’s agricultural resources without compromising on food security and environmental protection. It will build on the learnings from a multi-stakeholder Scenario Development workshop that RSB led in early 2020 to identify the key risks, opportunities, strategies and approaches to the development of sustainable biofuels in Ethiopia in the next 15 years. The long-term ambition is for Ethiopia to identify suitable feedstocks technologies for SAF production in order to become the leading SAF producer and supplier in Africa, supporting the decarbonisation of the national airline while driving local sustainable economic development.  

This process will also inform the local biofuel sector, which is seen as a building block for the sustainable bioeconomy with SAF production pathways often integrating renewable diesel and other fuels and chemicals. The document will be ready by end of the second quarter 2021 and will be communicated to regional and international stakeholders thereafter.

This initiative is part of “Fuelling the Sustainable Bioeconomy” – a project led by the RSB with support of The Boeing Company to promote the development of SAF in Brazil, Ethiopia and South Africa.

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