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.
Velocys has appeared on Times Radio’s Matt Chorley show as part of a panel discussion on the future of Jet Zero.
During the appearance, Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn made the case for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) as the ‘here and now’ solution to decarbonisation of the aviation sector. Outlining the waste-to-jet-fuel process, Henrik Wareborn said of SAF’s drop-in ability “the beauty is that there is no conversion needed, the fuel we produce that is fossil free can be blended in on spec, it is the same chemical composition as current jet fuel made out of imported crude oil” with no change to existing aircraft infrastructure required.
One of the other panellists, James McMicking of the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), commented “in particular for long haul aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels are something that the sector is pursuing very hard, because that provides a way in which we can convert existing aircraft technologies to fly on a net zero basis.”
Henrik Wareborn went on to emphasise the commercial viability of SAF, pointing to key investors in Velocys’ Altalto project, British Airways and Shell, and the need for market-based policy support to scale up SAF production in the UK.
Subject to additional funding and financial close, construction of Altalto is targeted to begin in 2022 and the plant could be producing fuel from 2025. “We are on track and well underway, it’s a strong position to begin with,” he said.
A recent article in The Yorkshire Post by Velocys’ VP Waste to Fuels, Dr Neville Hargreaves, said that the Yorkshire and the Humber region – the location of our planned Altalto waste-to-jet-fuel facility – could play an important role in a new Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) industry, cutting carbon and creating jobs in the region.
With Altalto becoming the UK’s first sustainable aviation fuel facility, the Humber can establish itself as the global hub for the greener fuelling of air travel. Dr Hargreaves argues that with further support from Government and continued leadership from political leaders in the Humber, the region could capture a significant portion of the economic benefits created by the developing industry.
Velocys’ piece follows an earlier Yorkshire Post article by Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, which said the Humber region will power the green energy revolution. The Minister outlined how as an established renewable and industrial heartland, the Humber will act as the backbone for our green transition and an example to the many other industrial centres across the UK that they can go green.
The Minister’s support for the Humber and its industrial skill and heritage echoes Velocys’ decision to locate our proposed facility in the region.
The full article can be read here.
Velocys plc (VLS.L), the sustainable fuels technology company, is pleased to announce that copies of the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts, together with the notice of Annual General Meeting, have been sent to all registered shareholders.
The Annual General Meeting will be held at 10.45 am on Wednesday 2 September 2020 at the registered office of Velocys plc, Magdalen Centre Robert Robinson Avenue, The Oxford Science Park, Oxford OX4 4GA.
In line with the UK Government’s Stay Alert Guidance, the Annual General Meeting is expected to be held in a format different to that of previous meetings, while still allowing for Shareholders to exercise their voting rights. It is currently intended that the Annual General Meeting will be held with only the minimum number of Shareholders or proxies present as required to form a quorum under the Company’s articles of association, and who are essential for the business of the Annual General Meeting to be conducted. The attendance of any additional Shareholder, proxy or corporate representative is not permitted under the Stay Alert Guidance. Full information is set out the notice of Annual General Meeting.
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.