The Asia-Pacific region, despite being the world's largest air transport market, has been slow to embrace Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Nevertheless, support is increasing rapidly. Singapore and Japan have announced SAF blending mandates while Australia has announced supportive policies at the Governmental level. Production is either underway or proposed in China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Fiji. Singapore has also been home to the world's largest SAF production facility established by the Finnish renewable fuels company Neste.
"The Asia-Pacific region has a unique opportunity to lead in sustainable aviation fuels, but unlocking this potential requires stronger demand signals. Green Fuel Forward can provide the technical clarity and corporate commitment needed to scale SAF adoption by bringing together key industry players to drive the market forward", said GenZero CEO Frederick Teo.
A joint study conducted by ASEAN, the Canadian government, Boeing, and global consulting firm GHD concluded that Southeast Asia has the many agricultural feedstocks and potentially workforce to be a significant global SAF producers. To in support of and further these measures an Asia Sustainable Aviation Fuel Association (ASAFA) was established in Singapore in late 2024 to promote the development and use of low-carbon aviation fuels in the Asia-Pacific region.
As part of these initiatives, the Coalition of Green Fuel Forward was initiated at the GenZero Climate Summit 2025 event in Singapore. The Coalition includes significant stakeholders such as Temasek, Singapore Airlines, Qantas Group, Air New Zealand, Boeing, DHL, DBS, UOB, Mizuho, Neste and more. The Green Fuel Forward Coalition's actions and stated purpose aim at accelerating SAF production and adoption across Asia-Pacific; it is this step that is instrumental to the decarbonization of the region.
Laia Barbarà, the World Economic Forum’s Head of Climate Strategy said, "We are thrilled to expand our aviation decarbonisation efforts by creating a targeted programme to unlock Asia-Pacific’s immense potential. Green Fuel Forward will complement our well-established and ongoing Airports of Tomorrow and First Movers Coalition activities, increasing knowledge sharing, empowering organisations to procure SAF, and creating additional networking opportunities for our local partners and stakeholders".