A group of leading commercial airlines has teamed up with biofuel specialist Honeywell UOP in an attempt to develop and commercialise sustainable aviation fuels made from crops that do not affect food supplies such as jatropha and algae.

The group has the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and includes Air France, Air New Zealand, ANA (All Nippon Airways), Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic Airways as well as aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Together the airlines account for some 15 per cent of commercial jet fuel use globally.

"We recognise the need for dynamic, new innovation to help reduce aircraft greenhouse gas emissions beyond existing advances, while continuing to increase the socio-economic good that air travel provides to the world," the group said in a joint statement to mark the launch of the coalition last week.

WWF global bioenergy co-ordinator Jean-Philippe Denruyter said that the group will benefit from teaming up with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, which aims to promote second and third generation biofuels made from non-food crops. "We welcome the aviation sector's will to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and appreciate their efforts to ensure the sustainability of their biofuels sourcing," he added.

Under the terms of the new group, all members subscribe to a sustainability pledge to develop biofuels that perform as well as, or better than, kerosene-based fuel, but with a smaller carbon lifecycle.

The group has also announced two initial sustainability research projects.

The first will look at the development of jatropha curcas in developing nations, while the second will assess algae as a potential biofuel source.

The research projects are expected to focus on established processes developed by UOP that have already allowed the company to successfully convert natural oils into military jet fuel as part of a project funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The new coalition is the latest in a line of initiatives designed to promote biofuels as an environmentally sustainable and potentially more cost effective alternative to traditional jet fuels.

Earlier this year, Virgin Atlantic completed the world's first biofuel-powered test flight of a commercial aircraft, while Japan Airlines is currently working with Boeing on launching cellulosic biofuel-powered flight.

The launch of the new group comes after it emerged that the UK government has been lobbying the EU not to include aviation in targets for the use of renewable fuels on the grounds it does not believe jet biofuels can be commercialised quickly enough to meet the 2020 targets.

However, experts argued that a significant proportion of jet fuel could come from sustainable sources by 2020, while environmentalists accused the government of again attempting to water down the EU's targets.