How technology drives sustainable low-carbon fuel development
As demand for low-carbon fuels accelerates, technological advancements can help support the development and scaling of both existing and emerging production approaches.
Key takeaways
While current production technologies are geared to support the processing of crop-based feedstocks, emerging technologies may support a broader range of feedstock options. This could help diversify production pathways while reducing reliance on particular feedstock sources.
Technological advancements are essential for scaling low-carbon fuel production through more efficient processing techniques. Innovations such as Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA), Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ), and Power-to-Liquid (PtL) are critical to meet growing energy demands while reducing emissions.
Collaboration across industries, investment in advanced feedstocks, and supportive regulatory frameworks are crucial to accelerating the commercialisation of low-carbon fuels. Integrating waste-based and synthetic fuel technologies within supply chains while ensuring resilience will also be key to scale production.
Why technology is crucial for low-carbon fuel development
Reducing emissions across the economy is a complex challenge that will require a range of technologies and approaches. Businesses can contribute by deploying existing technologies and supporting innovation that may broaden available energy-transition pathways.
Technology plays a crucial role in scaling low-carbon fuels, which are essential to reduce emissions in hard-to-electrify sectors such as heavy-duty transport, shipping, aviation, and energy-intensive industries like steel and cement. These sectors all require energy-dense alternative fuels, as they are not easily electrifiable.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), nearly half of emissions reductions needed by 2050 will depend on technologies that are still in development.1 Advanced low-carbon fuels that are scalable and cost-effective, such as hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ), and Power-to-Liquids (PtL), offer promising decarbonisation pathways.
To support developments across the energy sector, industry stakeholders are working to optimise existing processes while incorporating a broader range of feedstocks and refining techniques. Additionally, supportive policy frameworks help scale production and support wider commercial adoption.
Digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) can also play a significant role in improving process efficiencies, reducing waste, and enhancing predictive analytics for feedstock supply-chain management.
Enhancing production pathways
For businesses looking at a range of approaches to managing emissions, biofuel pathways may form part of the available options. Crop-based biofuels continue to play a role in many regions and can support agricultural value chains.
Industry efforts are also exploring a broader range of feedstocks, including agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid waste, and other non-food biomass sources. Expanding feedstock options may help diversify production pathways and reduce reliance on particular feedstock sources.
Shell applies feedstock procurement requirements that include risk assessments, standards, and certification processes designed to support responsible sourcing practices.
Several of our initiatives focus on enhancing production pathways. Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds (VBO), a joint venture between Shell and S&W Seed Company, demonstrates how rotational oilseed crops like camelina can provide an alternative feedstock for biofuels. This crop has low input requirements as it is drought-tolerant, reduces soil erosion, and supports farmers with diversified income streams.3
Emerging technologies present new opportunities for businesses aiming to decarbonise. AtJ technology, for example, converts waste-based ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Shell’s investment in LanzaJet has supported the development of the Freedom Pines facility in Georgia, which aims to produce up to 38 million litres of SAF annually – reducing lifecycle emissions by up to 70% compared to conventional jet fuel.4
Another promising innovation is PtL, which uses renewable electricity and captured carbon to produce synthetic fuels. It is particularly suited to high-energy-demand sectors like aviation and shipping. Our expertise in synthetic fuel production, such as through the Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, positions us as a leader in advancing this next-generation technology.5
Hydrogen-based fuels, too, offer potential for long-term decarbonisation. Green hydrogen – produced using electrolysis powered by renewable energy – can serve as a feedstock for synthetic fuels and ammonia, which could be a key fuel source for the shipping industry, for example. Investments in electrolysis technology and hydrogen infrastructure will be critical to growing these solutions.
What it will take to scale low carbon fuels.
Shell is working to grow the availability of low-carbon fuels through investment, collaboration and supply chain development. This includes investing in advanced feedstocks, such as municipal solid waste and non-food crops, and working with partners including Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds and LanzaJet to help scale different fuel pathways.
Shell also engages with industry and policymakers on frameworks that can support innovation and investment, while digital tools and data analytics help improve efficiency across the value chain. Through these efforts, Shell aims to expand low-carbon fuel solutions and meet evolving customer and market needs.
Achieving this transformation requires collective action, and we are committed to working alongside our customers to help develop scalable and commercially viable lower-carbon fuel pathways.
Date of publication: August, 2025
Shell Renewable Diesel
Biofuels, constituting 3% of global road fuel demand, is a renewable, cost-effective solution offering a blendable, low-emission alternative made from organic matter.
Sources
1 International Energy Agency. “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector.” May 2021.
2 Adam Hill. “Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Feedstocks: Biomass and Waste Materials”. February 2025.
3 Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds. “Shell and S&W Enter Joint Venture to Develop and Produce Sustainable Biofuel Feedstocks” February 2023.
4 LanzaJet. “LanzaJet welcomes new investor Shell.” April 2021.
5 Shell Qatar. “Pearl GTL.”
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