Last year, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced bold commitments to substantially reducing its climate impact from business travel (more than 80% of its total footprint) by embracing lessons learned about virtual and hybrid work during the global pandemic. To further reduce the firm’s climate impact and to support the development of a more robust SAF market, BCG has established a long-term partnership with SkyNRG, becoming the newest member of its innovative SAF program, Board Now, which allows corporates to go beyond compensation and reduce their air travel carbon footprint by investing in and flying on SAF. In general, the use of SAF results in significant reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions compared with fossil jet fuel. Neat (unblended) SAF can result in an up to 85% reduction depending on the feedstock and technology used. Although SAF is an emerging industry, it is in the investment and technology deployment phase to address growing market demand.
This long-term agreement with SkyNRG supports the development of the first European SAF production facility (in the Netherlands), which will produce 100,000 tonnes of SAF annually from sustainable resources such as waste oils. BCG joins Microsoft, SkyScanner, PwC, and others as a Board Now program Leader – the highest membership level. The firm has also committed to purchasing existing SAF supplies in the meantime, signaling support for this much needed technology in the near-term.
This latest commitment builds on BCG’s longstanding support for SAF. Both BCG and SkyNRG have participated in the World Economic Forum-led Clean Skies for Tomorrow (CST) coalition since 2019, and more recently, BCG became a founding member of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) and announced several new partnerships for the purchase of SAF. SkyNRG is also part of the World Economic Forum’s SAF Certificate (SAFc) pilot. The pilot aims to develop a globally recognized accounting system for SAF, another key step to unlocking fast and sustainable growth in that market.
“Lower-carbon air travel is a vital part of achieving our net-zero goal, as well as the global climate targets. This partnership with SkyNRG will help to develop the global market for more affordable sustainable aviation fuel,” said Rich Lesser, BCG CEO.
“It is great to see that BCG is at the forefront of making the aviation industry more sustainable as a member of our SAF program, Board Now, and we feel honored to be partnering with them in our mission to shape the future of mobility through SAF. With this long-term partnership, BCG enables the acceleration of the sustainable aviation industry, bringing us one step closer to making SAF the global standard in aviation,” said Theye Veen, Managing Director of SkyNRG.
BCG and SkyNRG hope SAF partnerships like this are an example for other companies who are seeking to reduce their climate impact and support the transition to lower-carbon air travel to follow.