LATAM’s Green Gold Rush: Unlocking feedstocks, finance, and policy for regional SAF leadership
If sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is the bridge to aviation’s net-zero future, feedstocks are the pavement. Right now, they’re where the biggest opportunities, and challenges, lie. Globally, SAF production volumes are rising, but still represent under 1% of jet fuel demand - but with production expected to roughly double year-on-year in the near term every region with credible biomass, waste oils, and low-carbon alcohol pathways are entering into the spotlight.
Latin America is in a particularly exciting position. It has mature biofuel industries, strong agricultural supply chains, and the land, climate, and technical capability to diversify into multiple SAF pathways. But turning feedstock potential into investible SAF volumes requires rigorous LCA, market-aligned certification, and careful choices about which feedstocks should flow to aviation versus competing fuel markets.
That’s why so much of the Sustainable Aviation Futures LATAM programme is built around the practical mechanics of feedstock supply: what’s scalable, what’s credible, and what unlocks investment.
Waste oils alone won’t carry SAF scale-up
One of the most consistent themes across the SAF market globally is that eligible waste-based feedstocks are limited, while the next wave of scale increasingly depends on expanding into new supply chains including agricultural residues and cellulosic biomass and, longer term, e-fuels where renewable power and CO₂ sourcing become the “feedstock” story.
This is one of the major reasons that Latin America could play a crucial role in the SAF ecosystem. The region’s advantage is the options available: oils and fats for HEFA, abundant alcohol pathways for AtJ, and strong renewable energy potential that can support PtL over time.
The anchor market for Latin America’s feedstocks
Brazil sits at the centre of the feedstock conversation for a reason: it combines feedstock diversity, industrial readiness, and policy momentum that can secure project development, particularly as domestic decarbonisation targets hit.
On the feedstock side, Brazil’s opportunity spans:
HEFA-eligible oils and fats; including soybean oil, tallow, used cooking oil and macaúba
ATJ scale via ethanol; leveraging the country’s bioethanol infrastructure and logistics network
BtL pathways; tied to forestry residues and agricultural residues
On the policy side, Brazil’s “Fuel of the Future” framework and ProBioQAV establish mandatory, progressive emissions-reduction requirements for domestic aviation, starting in 2027 and rising over time.
At Sustainable Aviation Futures LATAM dedicated sessions discuss Brazil’s mandate trajectory, ProBioQAV implementation, and how policy support mechanisms translate into real project announcements.
What can be scaled fast enough, credibly enough, to meet demand without sacrificing market access?
A feedstock’s value is no longer set only by price and availability. It’s increasingly defined by whether it can clear tightening global compliance, especially for projects with export potential. That’s why the masterclass programme goes beyond what’s available and into:
How feedstock certification is implemented in practice, and where compliance risk shows up first
How carbon intensity scoring differs across frameworks (including GREET, CORSIA, and RED III), and what that means for Latin American producers
Why traceability and transparency, particularly around land-use and deforestation risk, are becoming decisive for oils and agricultural feedstocks
The real debate: who gets the feedstock?
As SAF demand grows, the region will face a question it can’t avoid: should aviation have priority over road and maritime fuels for limited low-CI feedstocks? This question will be explored in detail, alongside how quickly promising domestic feedstocks can move from pilot concepts to commercial readiness.
And crucially, it brings the farmer and feedstock-producer perspective into the mix, to discuss relationships across the value chain, and how they affect pricing, incentives, rural economic opportunity, and long-term supply commitments.
Why Sustainable Aviation Futures LATAM is the place to be part of the feedstock conversation
If you work anywhere SAF across the SAF value chain, feedstocks are where your risks and upside concentrate. Sustainable Aviation Futures LATAM is structured to leave with practical frameworks, market-aligned assumptions, and partner conversations you can turn into action.
Latin America’s SAF opportunity is real, and the winners will be the projects that can prove that their feedstocks are scalable, compliant, and commercially durable. If you want to understand what the next decade of SAF supply from the region actually looks like, this is where the conversation is happening.