Sustainable Aviation
Singapore Launches SAFCo to Centralize Sustainable Aviation Fuel Procurement
Singapore establishes SAFCo to centralize sustainable aviation fuel buying, funded by a passenger levy, aiming for greener aviation by 2030.
Singapore’s Strategic Leap: Centralizing Green Fuel to Secure a Sustainable Sky
The global aviation industry stands at a critical juncture, facing the immense challenge of decarbonization. As air travel continues to grow, its environmental footprint, currently accounting for 2-3% of global carbon emissions, is under intense scrutiny. In response, the sector has committed to an ambitious goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. A key pillar of this transition is SAF, a cleaner alternative to traditional jet fuel. However, its widespread adoption is hampered by significant hurdles, namely limited production and high costs.
In a decisive move to address these challenges and cement its status as a forward-thinking aviation hub, Singapore has announced a novel strategy. The city-state will establish a centralized, state-owned entity to manage the procurement of SAF for airlines operating out of its world-class airports. This initiative, a core component of the nation’s Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint, aims to create a stable demand signal for SAF producers, secure more competitive pricing through bulk purchasing, and accelerate the aviation sector’s journey toward Sustainability. The plan is not just a policy statement; it’s a structured, funded approach that could set a precedent for the rest of the world.
This new model is underpinned by a passenger levy, demonstrating a shared-responsibility approach to a complex global problem. By creating a dedicated, non-profit company to oversee this process, Singapore is building an ecosystem designed to stimulate investment, drive down costs, and ensure a steady supply of green jet fuel. The move is being watched closely by international bodies and other nations, as its success could provide a scalable blueprint for decarbonizing the skies globally.
Introducing SAFCo: A New Engine for Green Aviation
At the heart of Singapore’s strategy is the Singapore Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company (SAFCo), a wholly-owned, non-profit subsidiary of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). Set to become operational in 2025, SAFCo’s primary mandate is to aggregate the demand for SAF from all Airlines at Changi and Seletar airports. By acting as a single, large-scale buyer, the entity aims to overcome the fragmented nature of airline fuel purchasing and provide the market with a strong, consistent demand signal. This is expected to encourage producers to invest in scaling up production, which is crucial for bringing down the high cost of SAF.
The financial engine for this initiative will be a levy imposed on all passengers departing from Singapore, scheduled to take effect in 2026. This “polluter pays” principle is designed to be equitable, with costs varying by flight distance and class of travel. Early estimates suggest the levy for an economy class ticket could be around S$3 for short-haul flights, S$6 for medium-haul, and S$16 for long-haul journeys. The final figures are anticipated to be confirmed by the end of 2025, providing clarity to both travelers and airlines. This funding mechanism ensures that the procurement of cleaner fuel is directly supported by the users of the aviation services.
Leadership for SAFCo has been drawn from both the public and private sectors to ensure a blend of regulatory oversight and industry expertise. The company’s board will be chaired by Han Kok Juan, the Director-General of CAAS, ensuring alignment with national aviation policy. The appointment of Tan Seow Hui, a former executive from Shell’s low-carbon solutions division, as chief executive brings deep industry knowledge and a practical understanding of the energy transition. This leadership structure is designed to navigate the complexities of the nascent SAF market effectively.
“Through SAFCo, we want to get the best value for the SAF levy collected and activate a SAF ecosystem which will help advance sustainable aviation and create new economic opportunities for Singapore and beyond.”, Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS and Chairman of SAFCo.
The Blueprint for a Sustainable Hub
The creation of SAFCo is not an isolated policy but a critical pillar of the comprehensive Singapore Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint, which was unveiled in February 2024. This blueprint is the nation’s roadmap to achieving net-zero aviation emissions by 2050. The strategy acknowledges that SAF is the most significant tool available for decarbonization, projected to account for approximately 65% of the required carbon emission reductions. The initial targets are clear: SAF is to constitute 1% of all jet fuel used at Singapore’s Airports in 2026, with an ambition to increase this to 3-5% by 2030.
These Strategy, while seemingly modest, represent a significant step forward given the current state of the global SAF market. Globally, SAF production accounts for less than 0.1% of total jet fuel consumption. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects that even with production doubling in 2025, it will still only meet 0.7% of the industry’s needs. Singapore’s mandated targets, therefore, place it at the forefront of SAF adoption and are intended to catalyze market growth. The centralized procurement model is designed to de-risk the process for both airlines and producers, creating a more stable and predictable market environment.
The initiative also has implications beyond Singapore’s borders. The CAAS has actively shared its centralized procurement concept with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), positioning it as a potential model for other countries. As nations worldwide grapple with how to implement their own decarbonization strategies, Singapore’s proactive and structured approach offers a tangible example. It aligns with a growing global trend of government mandates for SAF usage, seen in regions like the European Union and the United Kingdom, which are collectively pushing the industry toward a more sustainable future.
Conclusion: Charting a Greener Course for Global Aviation
Singapore’s establishment of a centralized company for SAF procurement marks a pragmatic and pioneering step in the aviation industry’s fight against climate change. By directly addressing the core challenges of high cost and uncertain demand, the SAFCo model presents a clear, actionable plan. It moves beyond pledges and commitments to create a tangible mechanism for change, funded by a transparent passenger levy. This strategic initiative not only advances Singapore’s own ambitious environmental goals but also reinforces its position as a global leader in aviation innovation.
The success of this model could have a ripple effect across the globe, providing a blueprint for other nations seeking to accelerate their transition to sustainable aviation. As SAFCo begins its operations, the industry will be watching closely to see if this centralized approach can indeed stimulate production, stabilize prices, and make green jet fuel a viable, mainstream reality. Ultimately, Singapore’s bold move is more than just a national policy; it’s a critical test case in the collective, global effort to ensure that the future of air travel is environmentally sustainable.
FAQ
Question: What is SAFCo?
Answer: SAFCo, the Singapore Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company, is a new state-owned, non-profit entity created to centralize the procurement of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for airlines operating at Singapore’s Changi and Seletar airports.
Question: How will the purchase of SAF be funded?
Answer: The procurement will be funded by a levy on all passengers departing from Singapore, which is set to begin in 2026. The levy amount will vary based on the flight distance and travel class.
Question: What are Singapore’s targets for SAF usage?
Answer: Singapore aims for SAF to make up 1% of all jet fuel used at its airports in 2026, with a goal to increase this to between 3% and 5% by 2030.
Sources:
Sustainable Aviation
DHL Express Starts SAF Flights at Paris CDG With TotalEnergies Fuel
DHL Express signed a SAF deal with TotalEnergies covering 5 million liters in its first year for flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle.
DHL Express has signed a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement with TotalEnergies whose initial phase covers 5 million liters over one year, for aircraft departing its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is DHL Express’s first SAF use in France. The first SAF-powered DHL aircraft left CDG on November 9, 2026, the day the deal was announced.
In a press release dated November 9, 2026, issued from Bonn and Paris, DHL said it is the first express logistics provider to use SAF at CDG. The move coincides with the fifth anniversary of the Paris hub. DHL expects emission reductions of about 11,800 metric tons of CO2e a year in France, with the SAF flights running from CDG to its air hubs in Leipzig, Casablanca, Milan and London.
What the Paris agreement covers
DHL describes the deal as a first SAF supply agreement “over 5 million liters” for DHL Express air operations, and said its initial phase covers 5 million liters over the course of one year for aircraft departing the Paris CDG hub. DHL said the SAF is made from waste and residual materials such as used cooking oil, and works in existing aircraft and airport infrastructure without modifications. Compared with fossil jet fuel, it can cut lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by about 80%, depending on feedstock and production method.
The volumes will also be included in GoGreen Plus, DHL’s book-and-claim offering, which assigns emission reductions to customers even when their shipments do not physically travel on SAF. DHL said customers can use it to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. SHEIN signed a GoGreen Plus agreement with DHL Express in March 2026 to use SAF supplied by DHL for its international express air freight.
Travis Cobb, executive vice president of global network operations and aviation at DHL Express, pointed to the share of SAF already used in DHL’s own fleet:
“In 2025, SAF already accounted for 10% of the aviation fuel used across DHL’s own aircraft fleet”
Philippe Prétat, CEO of DHL Express France, said the opening of the Paris hub in 2021 marked a major milestone, and that SAF use shows that strong logistics performance and a lower carbon footprint can go together. Mathieu Soulas, director of new mobilities at TotalEnergies, said “Sustainable Aviation Fuels are a key lever for reducing aviation emissions today.”
How the deal compares with DHL’s SAF targets
At 5 million liters, the Paris deal is small next to the supply agreements DHL Express has signed elsewhere. In March 2022, DHL announced deals with bp and Neste for more than 800 million liters of SAF until 2026, which it described at the time as among the largest SAF deals in aviation. In May 2026, DHL Express signed an offtake agreement with SAF One for 25,000 metric tons of unblended SAF a year from a plant in Bahrain, with production planned for 2028.
DHL’s stated aim is to raise SAF use to 30 percent by 2030, a goal it restated in May 2026 and that also appears in the Sustainability Roadmap it cited in March 2022. DHL said in March 2026 that SAF accounted for about 10% of fuel consumption in its dedicated air fleet in 2025, up from 3.5% in 2024.
TotalEnergies has been expanding its SAF output in France. In a June 16, 2025 release, the company said it expects to produce more than half a million tons of SAF a year from 2028, to cover the increase in the European SAF blending mandate, set at 6% for 2030. It said its Grandpuits biorefinery would have capacity for 230,000 tons a year of SAF in 2026, and that SAF coprocessing had begun at its Normandy platform. The company said it supplies SAF-blended jet fuel to airports including Paris-Le Bourget, Bordeaux and Toulouse, and that Air France-KLM had signed a deal for up to 1.5 million tons of SAF over ten years.
The Paris CDG hub at five years
DHL opened the CDG hub in 2021 with a EUR170 million investment, which it describes as its largest in France since entering the country in 1976. The site occupies a 91,000-square-meter plot with 34,000 square meters of operational space, and its sorting system handles up to 38,000 parcels and documents per hour. The hub runs 24/7 and employs 760 people.
The AirPro Atlas lists 72,029,407 passengers at CDG in 2025.
DHL also cited ground-side measures in France. It said all of DHL Express France’s owned light commercial vehicles are electric, that it serves 55 French city centers with low-emission delivery modes, and that this supports DHL Group’s target of two-thirds last-mile electrification by 2030.
Sustainable Aviation
Singapore Airlines Signs SAF Offtake Deal with Aether Fuels
Singapore Airlines commits to buying SAF from Aether Fuels’ Project Beacon facility in Singapore, due online in 2028.
Singapore Airlines (SQ) has finalized a firm purchase agreement to offtake next-generation Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from Aether Fuels, becoming the first carrier to commit to the upcoming Project Beacon production facility in Singapore.
Announced in a joint press release on 28 October 2026, the agreement transitions a previous memorandum of understanding into a binding contract. The deal secures future fuel volumes to support the airline’s target of replacing 5 percent of its total fuel consumption with SAF by 2030.
Transitioning from framework to firm commitment
The 28 October 2026 announcement builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies on 4 February 2025. That initial framework outlined the airline’s intention to procure neat SAF for a five-year period, with an option to extend for an additional five years, once Aether commenced commercial production.
While the companies confirmed the transition to a firm offtake agreement, the exact fuel volumes and financial terms were not disclosed in the release.
Project Beacon and the Aurora technology
Aether Fuels, a climate technology firm incubated and funded in 2022 by Temasek-backed deep tech venture firm Xora, officially launched Project Beacon on 11 November 2025. The project is a partnership with Aster, a joint venture between Indonesian chemical and infrastructure company Chandra Asri and commodities trader Glencore.
The commercial-scale SAF facility will be located at Aster’s refining hub on Pulau Bukom in Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Aster acquired this site from Shell to develop a dedicated sustainable fuels footprint. Construction of the facility is scheduled to commence in 2026.
Once operational in 2028, Project Beacon is projected to produce 50 barrels per day, equating to approximately 2,000 tons of SAF annually. The plant will utilize Aether’s proprietary Aurora technology to produce Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK). According to Aether Fuels, this pathway is expected to deliver a minimum 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.
De-risking commercial scale-up
The firm offtake agreement follows a critical technical milestone for Aether Fuels. On 29 September 2026, the company announced the successful operation of a fully integrated demonstration line at RTI International in North America.
The 2.5 barrel-per-day system combined Aether’s Aurora Tri-Converter and Upgrader units with an existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor. The demonstration successfully converted renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas and captured industrial carbon dioxide into synthetic aviation fuel meeting ASTM D7566 specifications. This successful run provided the engineering data required to de-risk the design and scale-up of the Project Beacon facility ahead of its construction phase.
Singapore’s SAF ecosystem and airline targets
The aviation industry is increasingly reliant on SAF to meet decarbonization targets, but feedstock availability remains a primary bottleneck. Aether’s FT-SPK pathway addresses this by utilizing industrial waste gases and biomethane, bypassing the constrained agricultural and lipid-based feedstocks, such as used cooking oil, that dominate current SAF production.
The agreement aligns with broader regional regulatory shifts. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has mandated a SAF levy for flights departing Singapore starting in 2026 to fund centralized SAF procurement. Singapore Airlines, which operates a fleet with an average age of under eight years, has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
AirPro News analysis
We view this firm offtake agreement as a clear indicator of the tightening future market for non-lipid SAF. The aviation sector’s reliance on Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) SAF is running into hard limits regarding used cooking oil and tallow availability. By committing to Aether’s FT-SPK product before the Project Beacon facility has even broken ground, Singapore Airlines is moving aggressively to lock in alternative feedstock pathways.
This early commitment is necessary for airlines aiming to meet 2030 mandates. The lead times for financing, constructing, and scaling novel waste-to-fuel facilities span several years, meaning airlines cannot wait for commercial production to begin before securing their supply lines.
Sustainable Aviation
SABA Members Back Infinium eSAF Facility With Long-Term Deals
Google, McKinsey, and others sign binding SAFc agreements to support Infinium Energy’s 100,000 MT/year Texas eSAF project.
Corporate members of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) have signed binding, multi-year agreements to purchase sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) from Infinium Energy’s planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) facility in Texas. The commitments, announced on September 22, 2026, are designed to provide the financial demand signals necessary for Infinium to reach a final investment decision on the project.
In a press release issued by SABA, the organization confirmed that American Airlines (AA) will serve as the physical offtaker for the fuel, managing logistics and delivery. The corporate buyers purchasing the associated certificates include AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, and McKinsey & Company. The agreement marks the first time SABA’s procurement model has been utilized to directly drive new production capacity for scalable sustainable aviation fuel.
Project Atlas production and environmental targets
Infinium Energy was selected through a SABA procurement process earlier in 2026 to provide ultra-low carbon eSAF. The fuel is produced using waste carbon dioxide and renewable energy, distinguishing it from traditional biofuel pathways that rely on agricultural or waste feedstocks.
The planned Texas facility, designated Project Atlas, is expected to have an annual sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity of 100,000 metric tons. According to the alliance, the contracted volumes will support an expected greenhouse gas abatement of 212,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e). SABA equates this emissions reduction to approximately 3,500 commercial flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
“We’re proud to partner with SABA members including AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, McKinsey, and others, as well as American Airlines to bring Infinium Energy’s next world scale eSAF facility to life. Their commitment reflects a shared conviction that decarbonizing aviation requires real investment in next-generation supply,” said Robert Schuetzle, CEO of Infinium Energy.
Aggregating demand through book-and-claim
The transaction utilizes a book-and-claim model. Corporate buyers purchase the SAFc to claim the environmental benefits against their business travel emissions, while the physical fuel is delivered to partner airlines. This mechanism allows corporations to fund SAF production even when the physical fuel cannot be delivered directly to the airports their employees use.
American Airlines will manage the physical integration of the eSAF into the commercial aviation fuel supply chain. Jill Blickstein, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Airlines, stated that the corporate commitments broaden participation in the SAF market and demonstrate how customers can collaborate with airlines and fuel producers to advance decarbonization.
SABA, a joint initiative of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA), and RMI, has aggregated $500 million in SAFc demand from 35 companies to date. Aviation currently accounts for approximately 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Novel technologies are critical to meeting future demand for sustainable aviation fuel, but they will not be operational in time without investments made today. This procurement demonstrates how aggregated, long-term demand can help take promising eSAF projects from idea to reality,” said Jon Creyts, CEO of RMI.
AirPro News analysis
We view this agreement as a critical structural step for the eSAF market. Power-to-Liquid (PtL) fuels like those planned for Project Atlas face a steep commercialization barrier. They are highly capital-intensive to build and currently produce fuel at a significant cost premium compared to both conventional Jet A and HEFA-based SAF derived from waste fats and oils.
Airlines operate on thin margins and generally cannot absorb the full green premium of eSAF alone. By unbundling the environmental attributes from the physical fuel, the SABA model allows highly capitalized corporate entities like Google and McKinsey & Company to absorb that premium. More importantly, signing binding, multi-year offtake agreements provides the revenue certainty that infrastructure lenders require before financing first-of-a-kind industrial facilities. If Project Atlas reaches a positive final investment decision based on these contracts, it will validate the book-and-claim model as a viable financing mechanism for next-generation aerospace infrastructure.
Sources: Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance via PR Newswire
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