Velocys has been featured in an article in the Financial Times, as part of a piece reporting on the aviation industry’s call to progress the development of sustainable aviation fuels.
The article, Aerospace executives warn on need to press green fuel use, quotes Velocys chief executive Henrik Wareborn as saying that the UK has an opportunity to take a lead in the global market for SAF, following publication of research from industry group Sustainable Aviation that identifies Humberside as a possible location for a SAF industrial cluster.
Velocys’ Altalto plant, which earlier this year received planning permission to be built in Immingham, would be at the centre of this Humberside cluster. The article quotes Henrik Wareborn as saying that “The region has a fantastic opportunity to establish itself as the global hub for fuelling future air travel.”
For the full Financial Times article, see here.
Velocys was delighted to appear at the world’s first ever Net Zero Festival, taking part in a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Prepping Net Zero Flight for Take Off.’
Henrik Wareborn, Velocys CEO, told the virtual audience that “what we can do here and now, today, is replace fossil jet fuel with synthetic jet fuel that doesn’t require us to drill for more crude oil.” He went on to outline the substantial environmental benefits of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), including net greenhouse gas savings of 70% for each tonne of conventional jet fuel displaced, up to 90% reduction in particulate matter from aircraft engine exhausts and almost 100% reduction in sulphur oxides.
The importance of SAF in industry decarbonisation efforts was supported by other panellists, including Paul Stein, CTO of Rolls Royce, who agreed “we need a call to arms globally to create the economic and regulatory conditions to encourage the ramp up of SAF”. Whilst John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow said that “the key change is switching to SAF, and we really need to have a massive injection of energy and investment if we are going to reach net zero by 2050.” He went on to call Velocys a “pioneer” in the sector.
Henrik Wareborn raised the potential use of mandates to encourage SAF usage both nationally and globally, on which John Holland-Kaye added that “the idea of a mandate for the proportion of SAF used in flights is very important and sends a demand signal,” with panellists agreeing that consistency is needed at an international level.
Whilst other technologies were discussed, the panel agreed that in the context of medium and long distance flight, the need to substitute fossil kerosene with SAF would be essential in the decarbonisation of aviation ahead. As the UK’s most advanced SAF project in development, Velocys has an essential role to play in the aviation sector reaching its 2050 net zero goals in the years ahead.
For more information on the Net Zero Festival, please see here.
The Government’s Jet Zero Council, which is designed to fast track zero-emission aviation through a partnership between government and industry, has held its inaugural meeting and published its key aims.
In order to accelerate progress towards green aviation, the council will promote the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), such as those enabled through Velocys’ technology.
One of the council’s three focuses is:
“establishing UK production facilities for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and commercialising the industry by driving down production costs”.
Among its objectives is:
“accelerate the design, manufacture, testing, certification, infrastructure and commercial operation of zero emission aircraft and aviation systems in the UK through sustained investment in applied research and development (R&D) and fostering greater collaboration across sectors”.
Commenting on this progress, Aviation Minister Robert Courts said:
“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges faced by modern society, and we know we need to go further and faster if we’re to make businesses sustainable long into the future. That’s why we’re bringing together government, business and investors to reduce emissions in the aviation sector – through innovative technologies, such as sustainable fuels … we will build a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future for all.”
Further details on the Jet Zero Council’s membership and aims can be found here.
Following the announcement by international global airline alliance Oneworld that it is committing to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, Velocys has been highlighted as part of a report in The Independent on the sector pledge.
The 13 Oneworld member airlines will develop their individual approaches to reach the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, through initiatives including investments in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). The group includes IAG, parent company of British Airways, with whom Velocys is developing Altalto – the UK’s first waste-to-jet-fuel facility in North East Lincolnshire.
The Independent report noted: “BA has invested heavily in biofuel, partnering with Royal Dutch Shell and sustainable fuels technology company Velocys to build Europe’s first plant converting commercial waste into jet fuel.”
The announcement represents the latest example of the aviation industry and business more widely recognising the important role sustainable aviation fuels, such as those enabled through Velocys’ technology, will play in the decarbonisation of the aviation sector by 2050.
The full Independent article can be read here.
The Oneworld announcement can be viewed here.
Half-year report
Velocys plc (VLS.L), the sustainable fuels technology company, is pleased to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020.
Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 (17-Sep-2020)
The CBI has called for Government action to support the UK aviation sector in the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as part of a new six-point plan for achieving net zero carbon.
“With an established history in aviation and aerospace technologies,” the business group says, “the UK has a unique opportunity to develop the right policy frameworks to enable the sector to meet its net zero commitments.”
Given the international nature of aviation, the UK has the chance to use its expertise to drive innovation and global leadership through structures like the Jet Zero Council, of which Velocys is a member.
Echoing the requests from industry coalition Sustainable Aviation, of which Velocys is also a member, the CBI calls for the creation of an Office for Sustainable Aviation Fuels and £500 million of matched public/private funding over five years. This will support the establishment of commercial SAF plants in the UK, such as the Altalto waste-to-jet-fuel facility being developed as a first-of-a-kind by Velocys in North East Lincolnshire.
There is increasing interest in the reduction of transport emissions from the corporate world. For example, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, in his recent Gates Notes blog on a zero-carbon world, said, “We want more people to be able to travel without contributing to climate change.”
At Velocys, we believe that sustainable aviation fuels have an essential role to play in ensuring we can continue flying while concurrently reducing emissions.
The full CBI green recovery roadmap can be viewed here.
The Gates Notes blog referenced above can be read here.
Velocys has been invited to join the board of the newly formed Renewable Transport Fuel Association (RTFA). Made up of producers and suppliers of greener transport fuels, the group will work to support rapid action to decarbonise transport through the uptake of low carbon fuels such as bioethanol, biomethane, biodiesel and biopropene.
Velocys Vice President Waste to Fuels, Dr Neville Hargreaves (above right), will represent Velocys on the board of the RTFA, which will initially be made up of 13 members including Associated British Foods, ABSL, Alco, Argent Energy, Calor, CNG Fuels, Ensus UK, Gasrec, Greenergy, Nova Pangea and Olleco.
This follows recent news that Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn (above left) has joined one of the influential boards of the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation (BIO). BIO is the world’s largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centres and related organisations across the globe. Henrik Wareborn will sit on the Industrial & Environmental Section Governing Board.
Both appointments will bring Velocys’ industry expertise to bear on major issues affecting the renewable fuels and biotechnology industries, demonstrating the leading role Velocys will play in the growth of sustainable fuels.
Velocys plc (VLS.L), the sustainable fuels technology company, announces that, at its Annual General Meeting held earlier today, all resolutions put to shareholders were duly passed by means of a Poll.
Full details of the resolutions passed are set out in the Notice of Meeting on this website.
| Resolutions | For / Discretion | Against | Total | Vote withheld* | ||
| Number | % | Number | % | |||
| 1. To receive, consider and adopt the annual accounts of the Company as at 31 December 2019 and the Directors’ and auditors’ reports thereon | 387,964,287 | 95.55 | 18,080,294 | 4.45 | 406,044,581 | 93,474 |
| 2. To re-elect Philip Holland | 405,685,377 | 99.98 | 95,121 | 0.02 | 405,780,498 | 357,557 |
| 3. To re-elect Henrik Wareborn | 405,685,377 | 99.98 | 93,358 | 0.02 | 405,778,735 | 359,320 |
| 4. To re-elect Andrew Morris | 405,599,831 | 99.96 | 178,904 | 0.04 | 405,778,735 | 359,320 |
| 5. To re-elect Sandy Shaw | 405,599,831 | 99.96 | 178,904 | 0.04 | 405,778,735 | 359,320 |
| 6. To re-elect Darran Messem | 405,599,831 | 99.96 | 178,904 | 0.04 | 405,778,735 | 359,320 |
| 7. To re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors to the Company | 387,697,101 | 95.48 | 18,345,717 | 4.52 | 406,042,818 | 95,237 |
| 8. To authorise the Directors to fix the remuneration of the auditors | 405,869,404 | 99.95 | 184,208 | 0.05 | 406,053,612 | 84,443 |
| 9. To authorise the Directors to allot equity securities pursuant to the articles of association of the Company | 405,553,088 | 99.87 | 531,662 | 0.13 | 406,084,750 | 89,056 |
| 10. To authorise the Directors to allot equity securities for cash disapplying pre-emption rights in the Company’s articles of association | 387,848,826 | 95.51 | 18,240,537 | 4.49 | 406,089,363 | 84,443 |
| 11. To authorise the Company to purchase its own shares | 387,933,203 | 95.53 | 18,154,397 | 4.47 | 406,087,600 | 86,206 |
* ‘Vote withheld’ is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the proportion of the votes ‘For’ and ‘Against’ a resolution.
For further information, please contact:
Velocys
Henrik Wareborn, CEO
Andrew Morris, CFO
Lak Siriwardene, Head of Communications & Sustainability
+44 1865 800821
Numis Securities (Nomad and joint broker)
Stuart Skinner
+44 20 7260 1000
Canaccord Genuity (Joint broker)
Henry Fitzgerald-O’Connor
James Asensio
+44 20 7523 8000
Radnor Capital (Investor relations)
Joshua Cryer
Iain Daly
+44 20 3897 1830
Field Consulting (PR)
Robert Jeffery
+44 20 7096 7730
Certain information contained in this announcement would have constituted inside information (as defined by Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) prior to its release as part of this announcement.
Velocys is an international UK-based sustainable fuels technology company. Velocys designed, developed and now licenses proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology for the generation of clean, low carbon, synthetic drop-in aviation and road transport fuel from municipal solid waste and residual woody biomass plants currently in construction and development.
Velocys is at present developing two reference projects: one in Natchez, Mississippi, USA (incorporating Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) and one in Immingham, UK, to produce fuels that significantly reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and key exhaust pollutants for aviation and road transport. Originally a spin-out from Oxford University, in 2008 the company acquired a US company based on complementary technology developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Velocys is headquartered in Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The Company announces that, following the issue of new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of a share option during the month ended 31 August 2020 and their admission to trading on AIM under the Company’s blocklisting, the total issued share capital of the Company is 1,063,856,057 Ordinary Shares, each with voting rights.
The Company does not currently hold any shares in treasury. Accordingly, this figure of 1,063,856,057 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
For further information, please contact:
Velocys
Henrik Wareborn, CEO
Andrew Morris, CFO
Lak Siriwardene, Head of Communications & Sustainability
+44 1865 800821
Numis Securities (Nomad and joint broker)
Stuart Skinner
+44 20 7260 1000
Canaccord Genuity (Joint broker)
Henry Fitzgerald-O’Connor
James Asensio
+44 20 7523 8000
Radnor Capital (Investor relations)
Joshua Cryer
Iain Daly
+44 20 3897 1830
Field Consulting (PR)
Robert Jeffery
+44 20 7096 7730
Velocys is an international UK-based sustainable fuels technology company. Velocys designed, developed and now licenses proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology for the generation of clean, low carbon, synthetic drop-in aviation and road transport fuel from municipal solid waste and residual woody biomass plants currently in construction and development.
Velocys is at present developing two reference projects: one in Natchez, Mississippi, USA (incorporating Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) and one in Immingham, UK, to produce fuels that significantly reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and key exhaust pollutants for aviation and road transport. Originally a spin-out from Oxford University, in 2008 the company acquired a US company based on complementary technology developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Velocys is headquartered in Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Velocys has been featured in the Financial Times in an article on the potential of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) to reduce airline emissions and on the path to commercialisation.
In the piece Airlines ask passengers to subsidise green fuel to help cut emissions, Velocys’ proposed Altalto Immingham plant is detailed, with production targeted to begin in 2025 and the aim of producing 50,000 tonnes of SAF annually. Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn is quoted as saying: “That is enough to fuel 1,000 transatlantic flights a year.”
Later, discussing the Government support required to get the UK’s sustainable fuels industry off the ground, Henrik Wareborn emphasised the need for market based policy support, saying: “We don’t need taxpayer subsidies but we do need policy to keep the price of avoided carbon competitive.”
The article concluded by pointing to the potential economic benefits that a fledgling SAF industry could bring to ‘UK PLC’, with Heathrow’s John Holland-Kay commenting: “This is the earliest opportunity to help make flying sustainable… But there is also an economic opportunity here. The key for the Government is how many new jobs it will create.”
The full FT article can be read here.