Development Prospect of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

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AbstractGreenhouse gas emissions from the global aviation industry are still rising rapidly, which is based on the emissions from developed economies and driven by the rapid growth of developing economies. China’s aviation industry became the world’s second largest aviation market after the US, with emissions of 94.9 million tons in 2018, equivalent to more than 30 million tons of aviation fuel. However, China’s per capita passenger traffic is still significantly lower than that of developed countries. By 2050, China’s aviation emissions will increase by 130–400%. Although with the growth of the national fleet, Chinese airlines have purchased new and more energy-efficient aircraft, major innovations are still needed in order to avoid uncontrolled growth of emissions in this field. With the rapid development of aviation industry, Chinese President Xi Jinping recently announced at the United Nations General Assembly that China plans to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Although the details are still under study, it is obvious that every sector of China’s economy, including the aviation department, needs to take major actions to decarbonize. In addition, as the international pressure to reduce emissions from the aviation industry is increasing and the international emission reduction plan frameworks, including Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), gradually come into effect, China needs to formulate a plan. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the global civil aviation departments will need to significantly increase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to replace fossil aviation fuel. With the implementation of new technologies, the use of SAF will account for more than half of the total aviation emission reduction. As one of the largest aviation fuel consumers, China also needs its own methods to develop and expand its SAF production capacity. In this paper, the main opportunities and problems surrounding the development of SAF were summarized, and the main stakeholder groups were identified. It is suggested that the stakeholders in China work out a comprehensive and achievable roadmap to greatly increase the production and application scale of SAF in China, so as to support China’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. By learning from the experience of other countries and regions in SAF industry development, policies and formulation of SAF roadmap, China now has the opportunity to promote the development of SAF technology, supply chain and industry in China by combining the needs and interests of government, aviation industry, energy industry, environmental protection and people. In the end, some commercial and policy suggestions were put forward to promote the sustainable development of China's aviation industry in the future.KeywordsSAFBiofuelCORSIAFeedstockCertificationRoadmap