International Civil Aviation Day

In June 2021, ACI member airports committed at the global level to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, for their own operations.This was followed in October 2021 by a commitment from the entire aviation industry through the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) and finally, by ICAO Member States through the Long-Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) at the 41st ICAO Assembly . In line with that, ICAO and its Member States have adopted the “ ICAO Global Framework for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) , Lower Carbon Aviation Fuels (LCAF) and other Aviation Cleaner Energies” during the Third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) in November 2023. The ICAO Global Framework sets a collective global aspirational vision [1] to reduce CO₂ emissions in international aviation by 5 percent by 2030 through the use of SAF, LCAF, and other aviation cleaner energies, in contribution to the LTAG. The role of this global framework is to facilitate the global scale-up in the development and dep...

  Traceability and sustainability criteria for SAF feedstocks. As global trades of feedstocks and fuels flourish and aviation’s reliance on SAF as a means to get to net zero increases, scrutiny of the sustainability credentials of these commodities is expected to intensify. Land-use changes, deforestation, poor agricultural practices, food security and biodiversity impacts are some of the potential concerns that have, in Europe at least, prompted investigations into the integrity of biofuel imports. This in turn has led to regulatory restrictions or bans on first-generation fuels derived from food crops, as well as caps on biofuels made from used cooking oil and animal fats. The risk of a supply-constrained scenario could exert positive pressure on the development of power-to-liquid or alternative SAF production pathways (e.g. gasification and Fischer-Tropsch). Equally, amid these concerns, some countries are moving towards improving transparency and research in this area. In 2024,...

  Alignment of SAF policy across regions and the future of SAF subsidies 2.2 Policy and geopolitical challenges Asia Pacific In 2024, Asia Pacific emerged as a hot SAF market, with an increasing number of governments introducing supporting policies (see Figure 8). Singapore introduced a new levy on air tickets to support SAF expansion; Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea announced or explored plans to introduce SAF mandates; and Australia made funding available for low-carbon fuel projects as part of its $1.1 billion innovation fund China is likely to unveil more detail on its rumoured SAF policy in 2025. The country gradually released the first components of its SAF policy in 2024, when it launched a new sustainability certification body in Chengdu and a consultation on domestic fuel standards, while piloting SAF usage with Air China, China Eastern and China Southern in September 2024. In Hong Kong SAR, a policy white paper released by the Hong Kong SAF Coalition ...

  During the last quarter of 2024, the World Economic Forum surveyed the views of around 30 C-suite executives from the aviation community. Despite headwinds last year – including SAF plant closures, scrapped projects and delays in policy guidance and incentives – executives were cautiously optimistic. More than two-thirds of respondents were confident that the momentum for aviation decarbonization will continue in 2025, with a minority voicing neutral or negative expectations for the year ahead (see Figure 2). Industry leaders flagged some developments as particularly promising: – The second half of 2024 saw notable breakthroughs in technology development and investment, with significant capital raised by SAF start-ups. – SAF production doubled from 2023 to 2024 and is expected to double again in 2025. – After several election cycles across the globe, more administrations are introducing new SAF policies or strengthening existing policies – the new government in the United Kingdom...