Carbon-Negative SAF: Lighthouse Green Fuels and the Role of Carbon Capture

The next phase of UK aviation decarbonisation will not be defined by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) alone.

It will depend on how effectively fuel production is integrated with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

SAF already reduces lifecycle emissions by around 80% compared with fossil jet fuel. But under the UK’s emissions-based SAF Mandate, carbon intensity is not just an environmental metric – it directly determines compliance value.

This creates a powerful incentive: the lower the carbon intensity, the greater the compliance value.

In this carbon-scaling system, fuels that remove carbon - not just reduce it - will become strategically important in delivering the mandate and accelerating aviation decarbonisation.

This is where carbon capture and storage can play a critical role.

From Reduction to Removal

At Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF), the SAF production process has been designed to integrate carbon capture from the outset. Using gasification and the Fischer–Tropsch pathway, the biogenic CO₂ generated during fuel production can either be emitted or captured and permanently stored.

That distinction is critical.

Without carbon capture, LGF’s SAF significantly reduces lifecycle emissions compared with fossil jet fuel. But when CCS is integrated into the process, the impact goes further by transforming SAF from a low-carbon fuel into a carbon-negative pathway.

The scale of this impact is significant. Capturing and permanently storing the biogenic CO₂ generated during production is equivalent to offsetting the emissions of 4,500 transatlantic flights between London and New York.

Embedding carbon removal within lifecycle accounting gives LGF SAF a negative emissions profile, shifting SAF beyond mitigation and into active carbon removal, a powerful advantage within an emissions-based regulatory framework.

Why Teesside Matters

Location plays an important role in enabling this carbon-negative pathway.

LGF is being developed in Teesside because it sits within the East Coast Cluster - one of the UK’s first government-supported carbon capture and storage networks. The cluster is establishing shared CO₂ transport and offshore storage infrastructure, enabling industrial facilities to permanently store captured carbon at scale.

For a second-generation SAF facility, that access is strategic:

• It determines whether biogenic CO₂ can be permanently removed.
• It directly improves lifecycle carbon intensity under the SAF Mandate.
• It reduces execution risk by anchoring carbon-negative performance to real infrastructure rather than future assumptions.

By integrating into the cluster, LGF also aligns with UK industrial policy, connecting aviation decarbonisation with broader national carbon management goals and creating a carbon-managed industrial ecosystem.

Carbon Capture and the UK SAF Mandate

The importance of CCS integration becomes even clearer when viewed through the lens of the UK SAF Mandate.

The mandate is emissions-based, meaning the compliance value of SAF is directly linked to its lifecycle greenhouse gas performance.

In this carbon-scaling system: Lower lifecycle emissions = more compliance certificates per litre of SAF.

This structure creates a strong incentive for fuels with the lowest possible carbon intensity.

While SAF already delivers major emissions reductions compared with fossil jet fuel, integrating CCS allows projects like LGF to go significantly further by achieving carbon-negative SAF.

The impact is substantial: with carbon capture, SAF with a lower carbon intensity contributes more to the UK SAF Mandate greenhouse gas emissions target.

For airlines, this is particularly important. Access to lower-carbon SAF makes it easier to meet mandate requirements and accelerate progress toward science-based climate targets, particularly for Scope 3 aviation emissions.

Infrastructure, Investment and Confidence

The UK SAF Mandate is ambitious. It prioritises fuels with lower lifecycle emissions, limits reliance on conventional HEFA pathways, and creates space for advanced SAF technologies.

And projects integrated into carbon transport and storage networks are better positioned within an emissions-denominated regime. They carry lower regulatory risk. They offer stronger long-term resilience. And they provide clearer pathways to compliance as carbon standards tighten.

CCS integration strengthens the UK’s ability to meet SAF Mandate targets without triggering buy-out mechanisms or undermining investor confidence.

For airlines working toward science-based targets, access to carbon-negative SAF meaningfully improves Scope 3 emissions performance.

For investors, infrastructure-backed carbon removal also enhances long-term asset durability, offering investors greater resilience within an increasingly carbon-regulated market.

This is how environmental performance and commercial positioning begin to converge.

Beyond Fuel: Delivering Greater Climate Impact

The UK has taken a distinctive approach to SAF: prioritising lifecycle emissions performance rather than fuel volumes alone.

To deliver that vision, fuel production must be aligned with carbon infrastructure from day one.

At LGF, carbon capture is not a future retrofit. It is embedded in the project design from the outset.

Second-generation SAF reduces emissions, but second-generation SAF with CCS delivers a step-change in decarbonisation.

As the UK moves into the next phase of mandate delivery, the question is no longer simply how much SAF can be produced. It is how effectively SAF production can be integrated with carbon infrastructure that makes carbon-negative flight possible.

Teesside provides that foundation.