Nestled in an industrial area in Singapore’s Tuas district is the world’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) refinery, where organic waste like used cooking oil and animal fats are converted into energy to power planes.
Built by a Finnish fuel producer In this in 2010, the facility underwent a $1.9 billion expansion in 2019. Reopened in 2023, it is now produces up to one million tonnes of SAF per year. Most of Singapore’s sustainable jet fuel is exported to Australia and Europe, but Neste director Mario Mifsud says Asia is the “next big frontier” for SAF.
“Asian governments are now making regulatory commitments to SAF,” said Mifsud, who oversees the company’s renewable fuel sales and trading for EMEA and APAC. Fortune. “We’ve seen this in Europe: one or two countries start, and other countries will follow.”
In November, Singapore mandated that, by 2026, SAF account for 1% of all jet fuel used at its Changi and Seletar airports, and further plans to increase the quota to 5% by 2030, in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) goal of having net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
“The 1% target doesn’t seem like an ambitious goal, but it will get the ball rolling,” says Mifsud. “Neighboring countries will observe and follow. »
Thailand also plans to reveal national SAF standards this year. Last July, national airline Bangkok Air began using a 1% SAF blend, reducing around 128 kilograms of carbon emissions per flight. (On average, a flight from London to New York generates about 493 kilograms of carbon per passenger, according to German nonprofit Atmosfair.)
Last May, South Korea became one of the first countries in Asia to make SAF mandatory on international flights, with the decision expected to come into force by 2027. The country aims to increase the proportion of SAF to between 7 and 10% by 2035.
Globally, Europe is leading in the adoption of SAFthe region’s ReFuelEU policy for 2025 requiring a 2% SAF blend. (The EU has a 70% SAF mandate that will come into effect by 2050.)
The SAF is one way the carbon-intensive aviation industry – responsible for 2.5% of global emissions – has attempted to go green. Now, as governments make a serious effort to push airlines to use sustainable fuel, the industry may finally start to take off.
Acceleration of production
Demand for SAF in Southeast Asia is expected to increase from 15,000 barrels per day in 2030 to more than 700,000 barrels per day by 2025, according to the ASEAN SAF 2050 Outlook Report. Production is also expected to increase, with ASEAN forecasting daily production of up to 8.5 million barrels of SAF per day.
On January 26, Hong Kong-based energy company EcoCeres inaugurated Malaysia’s first commercial-scale SAF production facility in the city of Johor Bahru, just across the border from Singapore. It can produce up to 420,000 metric tons of SAF each year.
At the launch of EcoCeres’ Tanjung Langsat plant, Noraini binti Ahmad, Malaysia’s Minister of Plantations and Commodities, said Malaysia would soon have its own SAF targets.
“Under the National roadmap for the energy transition“This plan reflects our strategy to position Malaysia’s raw materials sector as a responsible player in the global energy transition, and by using certified waste-based biomass, we add value to our resources, strengthen supply chains and support higher value-added downstream activities.”
The Johor plant is EcoCeres’ second, after the one in China’s Jiangsu province, which generates 350,000 metric tonnes of SAF per year.
Matti Lievonen, CEO of EcoCeres, said the Malaysia plant marks the first step in the company’s international expansion. “This location in Johor is excellent because you have raw materials from Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, a very good sea route to make deliveries and a strong workforce in Malaysia.”
Scaling
Aviation accounts for around 2.5% of global carbon emissions, but ways to decarbonize the sector are still in the development stage and are unfeasible for long-haul flights.
Electric aviation, for example, may only work for very short trips because it is limited by the energy storage capacity of batteries. (Jet fuel contains 30 times more energy per kg than the most advanced lithium-ion battery.)
The lack of raw materials also slows down the production of SAF. The International Energy Agency urges industry players to explore alternative raw material sources aside from used cooking oils and animal fats.
“Renewable fuels are still in their start-up phase,” explains Mifsud de Neste. “When you work in the oil and gas sector, you drill a well and extract your oil, it’s very simple. But when you work in the renewable fuels sector, waste collection brings considerable complexity.”
