Sustainable Aviation
Singapore to Launch First Green Fuel Levy for Sustainable Aviation
Singapore introduces a green fuel levy on departing flights to fund Sustainable Aviation Fuel, pioneering sustainable air travel costs.
Singapore’s Green Fuel Levy: A New Blueprint for Greener Skies
In a move that sets a global precedent, Singapore has announced it will implement the world’s first green fuel levy for departing flights. This policy is a direct and structured attempt to tackle the aviation industry’s carbon footprint, a challenge that has grown in complexity and urgency. By imposing a mandatory fee on passengers, the city-state aims to create a dedicated funding stream for the procurement of SAF, a cleaner alternative to conventional jet fuel. The initiative places Singapore, a major international aviation hub, at the vanguard of environmental policy in the travel sector, signaling a significant shift in how the costs of decarbonization are managed.
The significance of this levy extends far beyond Singapore’s borders. The global aviation industry has long grappled with its environmental impact, and while technological advancements are on the horizon, immediate solutions are scarce. Singapore’s approach provides a tangible, scalable model that other nations will be watching closely. It directly integrates the cost of sustainability into the price of a ticket, making the economics of greener travel transparent to the consumer. This policy is not just about raising funds; it’s about fundamentally altering the economic landscape of air travel and accelerating the transition to more sustainable energy sources.
Deconstructing the Levy: How It Works
The mechanism designed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is straightforward yet nuanced. A mandatory levy will be added to the ticket price of every passenger whose journey originates from Singapore. This fee is not a flat rate; it is intelligently structured based on both the distance of the flight and the class of travel. The logic is simple: those who travel further and in more spacious premium cabins contribute more to the carbon footprint, and therefore, will contribute more to the solution. The implementation is phased, with the levy being applied to tickets sold from April 1, 2026, for flights departing on or after October 1, 2026.
A crucial detail in the policy is the exemption for transit passengers. As Changi Airport is one of the world’s busiest transit hubs, this exemption ensures that Singapore maintains its competitiveness and does not unduly penalize travelers who are merely passing through. The focus remains squarely on journeys starting from the city-state. Furthermore, the policy extends beyond passenger travel, with a similar levy set to be applied to Cargo-Aircraft on a per-kilogram basis, ensuring that the logistics and supply chain sectors also contribute to the sustainability goal.
The funds collected from this levy are specifically earmarked for a single purpose: the centralized procurement of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. This creates a stable and predictable demand for SAF, which is critical for scaling up its production. The SAF industry is still nascent, and one of the biggest hurdles to its growth is the “chicken-and-egg” problem of high costs and low demand. By guaranteeing a buyer, Singapore’s government can help de-risk investment in SAF production and drive down costs over time. The initial target is to achieve a 3% to 5% SAF adoption rate by 2030, a goal that this levy is designed to make attainable.
The Financial Impact and Economic Ripple Effects
For the individual traveler, the financial impact will vary significantly. Passengers in economy and premium economy classes can expect to pay a fee ranging from S$1 for short-haul flights within Southeast Asia to S$10.40 for long-haul journeys to destinations like the Americas or Europe. The cost escalates for those in premium cabins, with business and first-class passengers paying four times the economy rate. This means the maximum levy for a premium passenger on a long-haul flight will be S$41.60, which is approximately US$31.95. According to CAAS, these final figures are lower than earlier projections, a positive development attributed to a recent drop in SAF production costs.
The levy represents a fundamental shift in travel economics, where the environmental cost of flying is no longer an externality but a direct component of the ticket price. This move could normalize the concept of “green surcharges” in the Airlines industry, altering consumer expectations and behavior over the long term. While the initial amounts may seem modest to many travelers, they establish a framework that can be adjusted as sustainability goals evolve. The policy also sends a clear message to airlines, airports, and aircraft lessors that sourcing and integrating sustainable fuels are becoming a mandatory operational cost, not an optional extra.
The success of Singapore’s initiative will be closely watched by other major aviation hubs, which may be prompted to introduce similar policies if it proves effective in balancing environmental goals with economic realities.
The broader implications for the global aviation market are profound. As a key node in international travel, Singapore’s actions carry significant weight. If this model proves successful, it could inspire other major hubs to adopt similar levy systems, creating a patchwork of green financing mechanisms across the globe. This could accelerate the SAF market’s development and create a more level playing field for airlines that are already investing in sustainability. The key question remains how consumers will react in the long run and whether this transparency in cost will influence travel choices or frequencies.
Conclusion: A Calculated Step Toward a Sustainable Future
Singapore’s green fuel levy is a calculated and pioneering step in the aviation industry’s long journey toward decarbonization. It is a pragmatic policy that directly addresses the funding gap for Sustainable Aviation Fuel by embedding the cost into the consumer transaction. By creating a variable and fair structure, it ensures that the financial burden is distributed according to impact, while exemptions for transit passengers protect its status as a global hub. This initiative is more than just an environmental tax; it is a strategic Investments in building a viable market for a cleaner fuel source.
The world will be observing the outcomes of this policy with great interest. Its success could provide a much-needed, replicable blueprint for how to finance the aviation industry’s green transition. While SAF is not a silver bullet, it is one of the most promising near-term solutions for reducing air travel’s carbon emissions. Singapore’s levy is a bold move that pushes the conversation forward from theoretical commitments to tangible action, potentially heralding a new era where sustainability is an integral and transparent part of the cost of flying.
FAQ
Question: What is the Singapore green fuel levy?
Answer: It is a mandatory fee that will be added to the ticket price of all passengers departing from Singapore to fund the purchase of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
Question: How much will the levy cost passengers?
Answer: The cost depends on the flight distance and travel class. For economy passengers, it ranges from S$1 for short-haul flights to S$10.40 for long-haul flights. For business and first-class passengers, the fee is four times the economy rate, reaching a maximum of S$41.60 (approx. US$31.95).
Question: When will the levy be implemented?
Answer: The levy will be applied to airline tickets sold from April 1, 2026, for flights departing on or after October 1, 2026.
Question: Are any passengers exempt from the levy?
Answer: Yes, passengers who are transiting through Singapore’s Changi Airport and not starting their journey there will not have to pay the levy.
Sources: Bloomberg
Sustainable Aviation
DSV and Google Cloud Start SAF Pilot to Cut Air Freight Emissions
DSV will secure up to 9.7 million liters of SAF for Google Cloud’s air freight, targeting 25,000 tonnes of lifecycle emissions cuts.
DSV will secure up to 9.7 million liters (2.5 million US gallons) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for Google Cloud’s air freight in a pilot agreement that the logistics company expects to reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 tonnes compared with conventional jet fuel.
DSV announced the collaboration in a press release dated November 11, 2026. The fuel will cover Google Cloud’s air freight on a key lane of its shipments, and the companies describe the agreement as a pilot that prepares the ground for a broader sustainability collaboration. It is a smaller deal than the SAF agreement DSV announced in April 2026 with Microsoft, United Airlines and Phillips 66, but it runs on the same book-and-claim model and the same certification and registry chain.
How the book-and-claim pilot works
Under the book-and-claim methodology used in the pilot, emissions reductions can be allocated to Google Cloud regardless of where the fuel is physically used. DSV said the SAF is made only from waste and residue feedstocks, excluding palm and palm-derived materials, and cuts lifecycle aviation emissions by 85% compared with conventional fossil jet fuel.
The fuel is third-party certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) scheme. Its environmental attributes are issued, transferred and retired through the independent Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate Registry (SAFc Registry), with support from DSV’s internal tracking. According to the release, each tonne of CO₂e reduction is assigned to a specific shipper and protected against double-counting, giving Google Cloud an auditable trail for its emissions reporting.
DSV’s own book-and-claim service page sets out the commercial terms behind such deals. Customers pay a premium that reflects the price gap between low-carbon and conventional energy, based on the volume bought rather than individual shipments, and the system is audited annually by an independent third party. DSV says most companies report the reductions under Scope 3 Category 4 or 9, and that the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0, published in June 2026, explicitly recognises activity-pool-based book-and-claim approaches for transport.
What the two companies said
Frank Sobotka, CEO of DSV’s Air & Sea Division, said: “Our customers want practical ways to lower the emissions of the goods they move.” He said combining Google Cloud’s ambition with DSV’s SAF programme is how “we turn a sustainability goal into measurable results in air freight.”
Brian Stewart, Senior Director, Logistics, at Google Cloud, said the collaboration builds on the company’s efforts to cut emissions across its global logistics operations. “Partnering on sustainable aviation fuel provides an auditable, transparent mechanism to address air freight emissions,” he said.
DSV’s April deal with Microsoft, United and Phillips 66
The Google Cloud pilot follows a larger arrangement DSV announced on April 15, 2026. In that deal, Phillips 66 can supply up to 11 million gallons (41.6 million litres) of SAF, expected to cut lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by about 100,000 tonnes compared with conventional jet fuel. United Airlines uses the fuel, while DSV and Microsoft take part through book and claim. DSV said those savings are roughly the equivalent of one freighter flight per day, every day of the year.
Lauren Riley, Chief Sustainability Officer at United Airlines, called it “the largest contracted SAF supply agreement with a single customer, DSV,” in the history of United’s Eco-Skies Alliance corporate SAF program. The April transaction used the same ISCC certification and SAFc Registry tracking described in the Google Cloud release.
For scale, DSV’s United States fact sheet lists, for 2025, more than 150,000 employees, a network in more than 90 countries and more than 2 million tons of airfreight. The group acquired Schenker, and Frank Sobotka, who heads its Air & Sea Division, is quoted in both the Google Cloud and the April releases.
Where SAF supply stands
DSV’s release says SAF supply is limited, so customer and partner commitments are needed to build the demand that allows wider use. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated on June 6, 2026, that global SAF output would reach about 2.4 million tonnes in 2026, or 0.8% of aviation fuel use, at a cost to airlines of $4.3 billion. IATA Director General Willie Walsh called 2026 another disappointing year for SAF.
IATA’s own list of priorities includes a global SAF market with enough volume at viable prices, supported by a book-and-claim system and harmonized standards. That is the mechanism DSV uses with shippers such as Google Cloud and Microsoft: the reduction is allocated to the customer regardless of where the fuel is physically used.
Other air cargo SAF programs covered by AirPro News include DHL Express’s TotalEnergies fuel deal at Paris CDG and SHEIN’s SAF pilot with DHL Express. DSV has not disclosed which lane the Google Cloud fuel will cover, the airline involved or the pilot’s duration.
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.
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