Singapore receives 15 recommendations on creation of a sustainable air hub
Tay Peck Gek
SINGAPORE should create a long-term secured Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) supply ecosystem as well as demand signals for the greener alternative to fossil fuel, recommended a panel that advises the Republic on ways to decarbonise the aviation sector.
Those are among the 15 initiatives in the 3 key areas of airport, airline and air traffic management that are being recommended by the 20-member International Advisory Panel (IAP) on Sustainable Air Hub, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) in a press statement on Friday (Sep 23).
The IAP members consist of top executives from international and local organisations, aerospace firms and research institutes.
Chaired by Chong Tow Chong, president of the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the IAP has submitted its report to Minister for Transport, S Iswaran.
Flight operations account for the bulk of global aviation emissions and therefore the decarbonisation of aviation will require significant climate action in the airline domain, the IAP noted. On this, the panel has proposed 5 initiatives, mainly focused on SAF.
SAF is a fuel produced from renewable raw materials, such as used cooking oil or animal fat from food-industry waste, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 per cent. It meets all quality and performance requirements of conventional fossil fuels, but costs 3 to 5 times more.
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The higher price is making carriers slow to warm up to SAF, and in turn has resulted in very low SAF production. Less than 0.1 per cent of jet fuel estimated to be currently used by commercial airlines is SAF.
To improve the sustainability of airlines operating via Singapore, the IAP has recommended that CAAS develop and implement a strategy to create the SAF supply chain and upstream capabilities to ensure long-term supply of the greener fuel in Singapore and the region. This would involve validating regional feedstock to align with global standards and investing in new SAF pathways as well.
Singapore would have the world’s largest SAF production capacity – 1 million metric tonnes a year – when Finnish producer Neste’s 1.5 billion euro (S$2.2 billion) facility in Tuas is completed in the first quarter of 2023.
But supply is just one part of the equation. The other part is demand.
A buyers’ club could be established by the CAAS to encourage early adopters of sustainable air travel to take collective action, thereby pooling SAF demand and providing stronger demand signals for SAF production and scale-up.
“As a global business and logistics hub, Singapore has opportunities to tap on business travellers and air cargo users, and encourage them to become first movers by joining the corporate buyers’ club. Thereafter, there is also the potential of collaborating with regional partners to expand the buyers’ club to the broader Asean region,” said the IAP.
Also, CAAS could introduce and implement a forward-purchase mechanism to encourage airlines to adopt SAF on a long-term basis to create demand signals, making it easier for SAF production to obtain financing.
For the airport, the IAP recommended the adoption of 6 initiatives to switch to renewable energy and improve energy and resource efficiency, given that airport operations are highly energy intensive.
These include solar panel deployment on the airfield, transiting airside vehicles towards cleaner energy sources and exploring the potential for an on-site waste-to-energy facility to enhance resource circularity.
Electrification of the airside vehicle fleet of 2,000-3,000 has started, with about 10 per cent now powered by electricity.
In the area of air traffic management, the IAP has recommended 4 initiatives to optimise procedures and advance a new concept of operations in collaboration with regional stakeholders. These would increase efficiency and reduce fuel burn and emissions.
Recommendations include building on existing efforts to improve the coordination and management of longer-haul flights and implementing direct route operations for arrivals in Singapore on specific route segments, which would enable aircraft to fly more optimal and efficient routes.
Also, the IAP noted that there are 4 critical enablers needed to drive the sector-wide decarbonisation efforts: policy and regulation; industry development; infrastructure planning and provision; and workforce transformation.
The Ministry of Transport and the CAAS will study the recommendations and incorporate them into the Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint – slated to be unveiled in 2023 – with the medium-term 2030 and longer-term 2050 targets and the pathways for achieving them set out.
Iswaran said on the sidelines of an event on Friday that the blueprint will clearly signal Singapore’s commitment to aviation sustainability and help differentiate the Republic from other air hubs. “Those who are able to implement effectively a sustainability programme are the ones that will really command greater attention and will be stronger competitively.”
Also, the blueprint will allow the government to start identifying where the required skill sets are, the needs that have to be addressed, as well as opportunities that can come about.
When asked whether the cost of travelling will rise if the recommendations are implemented, Iswaran, who is also in charge of trade relations, pointed out that air travellers might scrutinise what different air hubs are doing to ensure that their trips are sustainable.
“In that regard, I think, even if it means a little bit of higher costs, it will also have, I think, an important competitive dividend payout,” he said.
International aviation contributed about 2 per cent of global emissions before the pandemic hit, but its share could spike to 22 per cent by 2050 as more people fly and other sectors cut their emissions.
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