Singapore Airlines Group (SIA) has agreed to buy 1,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Neste, a Finnish producer that set up the world’s largest SAF production facility in Singapore last year.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
SIA and its budget carrier Scoot will be the first two airlines to directly use the neat SAF, which is derived from biomass raw materials, produced at Neste’s refinery at Changi Airport. The expanded refinery, which was completed in May 2023, has the capacity to produce a million tonnes of SAF a year.
“Neste will blend the SAF with conventional jet fuel according to the required safety specifications, and deliver the blended jet fuel to Changi Airport’s fuel hydrant system in two batches – once in the second quarter of 2024 and once in the fourth quarter of this year,” SIA said in a statement on Monday.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced in February that the city-state was targeting for all flights departing Singapore to use 1 per cent of SAF beginning 2026 and later 3 to 5 per cent by 2030, subject to positive market conditions. While the move was welcomed by the industry, it also raised concerns about the limited supply of raw materials.
Neste’s SAF is made from “100 per cent renewable raw materials including used cooking oil and animal fat waste. The company said that it reduces greenhouse house gas emissions by 80 per cent compared to fossil jet fuel.
Beginning this month, SIA will offer 1,000 SAF credits, also known as Book & Claim Units (BCU), for purchase by its corporate travellers, shippers and freight forwarders.
“Purchasing SAF BCUs allows corporate travellers, shippers, and freight forwarders to claim the associated environmental benefits for flights related to their business travel and operations…supporting the development of the nascent SAF industry,” SIA said.
In September 2023, SIA, CAAS and GenZero, a Temasek-owned investment platform, concluded a 20-month pilot in which the aviation group imported 1,000 tonnes of neat SAF that were uplifted on SIA and Scoot flights. An equivalent of 1,000 SAF credits were generated through an industry standard, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) Book & Claim System, representing approximately 2,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide reductions, SIA said.
