| By Eric Ombok and Yinka Ibukun Kenya Airways is on a mission to prove that sustainable aviation fuel can be made in Africa, potentially giving it a new way to seek financing to cut its emissions. The Nairobi-based airline plans to run four return flights from Oct. 14 to Oct. 21 mainly using a SAF blend. The first leaves later today from Nairobi to Paris, where new rules require airlines to use at least 2% SAF on departing flights. The outgoing flight will run on jet fuel blended with a locally produced biofuel made from plants such as croton — a domestic, drought-resistant crop. In 2023, Kenya Airways became the first African carrier to operate a long-haul flight from the continent with SAF supplied by Eni and imported from Italy. But buying and shipping SAF from overseas is prohibitively expensive for African airlines; the green fuel already costs at least twice as much as conventional jet fuel.  Allan Kilavuka Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg Operators on the continent can face costs as much as five times higher compared with jet fuel because of a lack of local production, according to Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka. African passengers are generally unwilling to pay extra for lower-carbon flights, Kilavuka said, “so we need to find a way to reduce SAF production costs and hopefully get subsidies from organizations or governments.” Producing SAF locally would potentially unlock funding from domestic lenders, as well as global funds, and would reduce the cost of complying with future regulations increasing the use of SAF over time. The International Air Transport Association has set a 2050 net-zero target for global aviation, relying on SAF to deliver as much as 65% of the emission reductions. Read the full story on Bloomberg.com  A tug boat assists an oil tanker Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg The Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on countries voting in favor of a carbon tax on shipping emissions, just as the global regulator is on the verge of green-lighting the charge. The International Maritime Organization will this week decide on sweeping new rules to make the sector start paying for the more than 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases it emits each year. While a draft plan had wide support in April, the US has called it a “global carbon tax” on Americans, and has said it would consider measures such as tariffs and port levies. The IMO plan has been years in the making, and adopting it would be a win for multilateral climate regulations in the face of tariff threats and wider blows to environmental progress ahead of next month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil. For shipping, it would pave the way for the end of oil as the dominant fuel — benefiting cleaner options like ammonia — while initially potentially raising over $10 billion a year, contributing to costs that could ripple through supply chains. While final adoption isn’t guaranteed amid opposition from Washington, industry insiders expect it to pass. If there’s no consensus, a two-thirds majority vote in favor would be enough for it to go ahead. Read the full story on Bloomberg.com and subscribe to Green Daily for updates on the IMO talks and other climate news. The UK is making it easier for flood defense projects to access public funds as climate change increases the risk to homes. Radiant Industries, a California-based nuclear startup, plans to break ground early next year on a factory for its reactors at a site in Tennessee that was once part of the Manhattan Project. EU lawmakers agreed to move ahead with major cuts to a set of sustainability directives, after intense pressure from the bloc’s biggest member states and months of lobbying from business groups that argued the directives would hurt competitiveness.  Greg Jackson Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg The UK used to be a shining example of how to act on climate change. It created one of the world’s first climate laws in 2008, which bound the government to reduce emissions on tight deadlines. That law used to have cross-party support, but that’s no longer the case with politicians trying to make climate a wedge issue. Greg Jackson, chief executive officer of the UK’s largest energy retailer, Octopus Energy, joins Akshat Rathi on the Zero podcast to discuss his plan to bring down bills and keep the public on the green side. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday. | 
