Sustainability In The Air

In this episode, we speak with Bruce Fleming, CEO of Montana Renewables, the leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel in the United States. Rather than building a new SAF facility from the ground up, Montana Renewables converted a portion of an existing crude oil refinery in Great Falls, Montana to process feedstocks including used cooking oil, agricultural waste, and emerging crops into SAF, renewable diesel, and renewable hydrogen. Fleming discusses: The retrofit model: Why conve...

In this episode, Dirk Singer speaks with Meg Gentle, Executive Director at HIF Global, about how synthetic fuels and waste-based pathways could reshape the economics of sustainable aviation fuel. Gentle discusses: Why Chile’s exceptional wind resources made it the starting point for HIF’s first e-fuels facility, and how that model is now being replicated globallyHow e-fuels are produced by combining green hydrogen with captured CO2 to create transportable liquid fuels like methanol and jet fu...

In this episode, we speak with Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, who shares how his company went from a college thesis to a publicly traded electric aviation manufacturer delivering real aircraft and generating revenue from military, medical and cargo customers. Clark discusses: The advantage of electric flight: How batteries deliver propulsion at 95% efficiency versus 30% for conventional engines, and how reducing the drag by 30-40% helps electric aircraft achieve meaningful ...

In this episode, we speak with Sabrina Tekle Krarup Jensen, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH), who shares how the airport is navigating some of aviation’s most complex sustainability challenges. Jensen discusses: CPH’s unique role as neutral facilitator: How the airport leverages its position outside the commercial fuel supply chain to support multiple SAF projects, and connect stakeholders across the entire aviation value chain.The eSAF financing ...

In this episode, we speak with Adam Klauber, Chief Sustainability Officer at World Energy, who has been at the forefront of developing book and claim mechanisms for sustainable aviation fuel since its earliest days. He discusses: The co-claims approach: Why aviation needed to diverge from renewable electricity market models by enabling both airlines (scope 1) and their corporate customers (scope 3) to claim emissions reductions from the same SAF molecules, unlocking new sources of funding.Wha...

In this special year-end episode, we explore conversations with industry leaders revealing where sustainable aviation truly stands in 2025. Matt Gorman, Director of Carbon Strategy at Heathrow Airport, reveals airports control just 0.1% of their carbon footprint directly but use landing charges to incentivise SAF adoption.Tamara Vrooman, CEO of Vancouver Airport, explains moving their net-zero target forward to 2030 by leveraging control of central infrastructure.Lena Wennberg, Chief Sustaina...

In this episode, we speak with Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT, who shares how the company is redefining travel with their all-electric Seagliders. Thalheimer discusses: Solving the regional travel gap: How seagliders address the transportation problem on 50–200 mile coastal routes, creating a faster, cheaper, and greener alternative for the 40% of the world’s population living in coastal communities.Three breakthrough technologies in one vehicle: How REGENT combines wing...

In this episode, we speak with Julia Fidler, former Director of Market Development for Energy, Connectivity, and Sustainability at Microsoft, who shares how the company built partnerships that are reshaping corporate approaches to scope 3 emissions. Fidler discusses: How Microsoft’s early carbon fee on scope 1, 2, and 3.6 emissions created the foundation for treating business travel not just as a measurable category, but as a gateway to solving fuel emissions.How Microsoft’s Sustainability Gr...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Mar Fernández-Méndez, founder of MacroCarbon and professor at the University of Bremen, about her journey from Arctic ice researcher to seaweed entrepreneur. Dr. Fernández shares how she's turning pelagic sargassum into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) while creating a carbon-negative process that enhances marine biodiversity. Dr. Fernández discusses: How Sargassum differs from other algae approaches, avoiding the pitfalls that have plagued microalgae b...

In this episode, we speak with Trevor Best, Co-founder and CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, who shares how his company’s proprietary photocatalytic technology converts waste biogas into sustainable aviation fuel, and has the potential to reach fossil jet fuel parity. Best discusses: NovaSAF’s unique value proposition: converting biogas from landfills, dairy farms, and wastewater treatment plants into SAF, simultaneously addressing methane emissions whilst decarbonising aviation transport.The t...

In this episode, we speak with Nina Marczell, Senior Vice President of Industrial Sales & Marketing for Fuels & Feedstock at OMV, who shares how the integrated energy company is leading sustainable aviation fuel development from early production to commercial scale across Europe. Marczell discusses: OMV's early-mover advantage, launching SAF production at their Austrian refinery in 2022 – well ahead of EU mandates – starting with 2,000 tonnes through co-processing and scaling to 4,000...

In this episode, we speak with Luke Farajallah, CEO of Loganair, UK's largest regional airline that operates the world's shortest commercial flight and the only airline globally that lands commercially on a beach. Farajallah discusses: Loganair's unique "fishing in a big pond" approach to sustainable aviation, investing simultaneously in SAF, hybrid-electric aircraft with Heart Aerospace, and hydrogen propulsion with ZeroAvia rather than betting on a single technology.Why regional airlines ar...