Sun Xueling on Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Amendment) Bill

Singapore wants to continue to grow sustainably as a premier air hub and one critical pathway is through sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling, who highlighted the key features of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Amendment) Bill in parliament on Tuesday (Oct 14), said it is an “important enabler” of Singapore's aviation decarbonisation journey and provides a legislative framework in the most practical way. SAF is expected to contribute around 65 per cent of the carbon emission reduction needed by aviation to achieve net zero by 2050, she said. Singapore has chosen a pragmatic and balanced approach through a SAF target, fixed cost envelope model and centralised procurement approach. To anchor supply resilience, Singapore has set a SAF uplift target of one per cent by 2026, with the goal to raise this to three to five per cent by 2030. Ms Sun said the government consulted industry and assessed that starting with one per cent is manageable and will not increase air ticket prices significantly. Singapore will adopt a fixed cost envelope model funded through a SAF levy. The total amount spent on SAF each year will be predetermined, based on the target and projected premium. The amount needed will be collected upfront via the levy to ensure cost certainty for airlines, passengers and shippers. The government will also aggregate demand across airlines and centrally procure SAF using the levy collected, added Ms Sun.