Southeast Asia is working towards ‘net zero’ carbon emissions in aviation by 2050, but government policy will be essential to fulfilling this ambition.
A sustainability panel at the 68th Association of Asia Pacific Airlines assembly of presidents grappled with the challenges posed by decarbonisation, but also laid out ways that the industry is moving forward.
Aung Soe Moe of the ASEAN Secretariat said that the regional grouping – which comprises the nations of Southeast Asia – is developing a sustainable aviation plan that will harmonise aviation sustainability regulations across the region. A road map for aviation sustainability is also in the works.
“The plan is to harmonise all the regulations across the region, and we are going to develop the ASEAN sustainability aviation roadmap,” says Aung.
“Some of the member states already have national roadmaps. It is still at the early stages, but we hope to adopt [the regional roadmap] by 2026.”
Stefano Baronci, Director General for Airports Council International Asia-Pacific & Middle East, sees a key role for airports in decarbonisation.
Baronci says that 601 airports have signed up for ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme since its launch 15 years ago. Nonetheless, Baronci says that success depends on a range of stakeholders, as well as the commitment of governments to decarbonisation.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was also discussed. Steven Bartholomeusz, head of public and regulatory affairs at SAF-producer Neste, observes that SAF has the advantage of being a “drop-in” fuel that can work with existing aircraft and infrastructure.
“From a supplier perspective, what is required is proactive policies,” adds Bartholomeusz.
“Enabling policies are critical to drive the uplift of sustainable aviation fuel. That can come in the form of obligations, as you see in the European Union and several countries here in the Asia Pacific region, pronouncing mandates, or it comes in the form of incentives like the United States.”
With such enabling policies in place, he feels that meeting demand for SAF is achievable.
He observes that Neste produced 100,000t of SAF in 2022, but today it can produce 1.5 million tonnes annually, mainly following the completion of its Singapore refinery. This alone is sufficient to meet the 2% SAF mandate for fuel uplift at European Union Airports form 2025.
Bartholomeusz adds that feedstocks are available for further production of SAF. Used cooking oil in particular offers significant potential as a feedstock.
Also appearing on the panel was Mary Ellen Jones, strategic advisor to NetZero. Jones contends that futuristic blended wing aircraft designs could offter tremendous efficiency and fuel savings. She said that a blended wing airliner would be able to reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions by 50% compared with conventional airliners.
