Latest News

Singapore to impose green fuel levy on flights from 2026

Travellers will need to pay of the shift towards green jet fuel, Singapore's transportation minister said as he announced the city state's prepare for a levy on flight ticket rates as the air travel industry seeks a practical funding design.

The plans revealed at an industry top on the eve of the Singapore Airshow go for all leaving flights to utilize 1%. sustainable air travel fuel (SAF) from 2026, rising to 3-5% by. 2030, based on international developments and the broader availability. and adoption of SAF.

It will injure our air center and our economy, and raise the. expense of travel for travelers if we are excessively enthusiastic with. our sustainability goals, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat stated. of the requirement for modest targets at first.

Air travel produces about 2% of the world's emissions but is. considered one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise.

European regulators have been the most active in trying to. increase using SAF, presenting guidelines that require airline companies to. fulfill minimum requirements for its use. Fuel suppliers are. required to ensure 2% of fuel at EU airports is SAF by 2025,. increasing to 6% in 2030 and 70% in 2050.

Under the European model, the carrier spends for the combined. fuel and chooses whether the expense will be handed down to. travelers in ticket costs.

Singapore's levy will vary based upon elements such as the. flight range and travel class.

For instance, in 2026 the rate of economy class tickets on. direct flights from Singapore to Bangkok, Tokyo and London will. rise by an approximated S$ 3 ($ 2.23), S$ 6 and S$ 16 respectively. to pay for the SAF, said the Civil Air travel Authority of. Singapore, which developed the strategy in assessment with. industry and other stakeholders.

However if SAF prices rise throughout the year, Singapore will. not have raised sufficient cash from the levy - the level of which. is set at the start of the year - to fund the full 1% and it. might miss target, Tat said.

SAF, which can be made synthetically or from biological. materials such as used cooking oil or wood chips, presently. represent 0.2% of the jet fuel market and costs up to 5. times more than traditional jet fuel.

A huge obstacle that is contributing to the high costs is. really protecting bio-derived feed, said Ong Shwu Hoon, Asia. Pacific fuels vice president at ExxonMobil Asia Pacific.

HIGH COSTS

Singapore's only present SAF manufacturer, Neste, has. capacity of up to 1 million metric tons of the fuel annually at. the Singapore refinery that began operations last year, a. company representative said. That is more than 10 times the. volume required to the reach the 2026 target.

Neste produced 251,000 tons of SAF worldwide in 2023, its. latest monetary report said.

The air travel industry says SAF use needs to increase to 65% by. 2050 as part of plans to reach net no emissions already,. though that will require an estimated $1.45 trillion to $3.2. trillion of capital spending.

There will be a cost connected with transitioning to web. no. And ultimately that cost will need to be reflected in the. ticket rates that we charge our consumers, which will have a. dampening impact on the level of development, IATA Director General. Willie Walsh stated at the Singapore summit.

IATA, which represents about 320 airlines, approximates that. the international airline market will grow at about 3.3% annually. over the next 20 years, substantially lower than in between 2010. and 2019, due to the fact that of ecological challenges and supply chain. issues, Walsh stated.

Walsh likewise stated that taxation to spend for air travel. sustainability measures might not decrease the variety of flights. but could price some people out of flying and lead to empty. seats, which is bad for the environment.

It's got to be a conversation: economics and practicality, and. environment sustainability, Walsh said.

Luis Felipe de Oliveira, director general of Airports. Council International, stated governments require to purchase new. SAF refineries to assist bring down the expense.

The solution is not capability restrictions, the solution is. not tax; the service is finding ways that you can work. together to increase production that will then be used by the. airlines in the system, he stated.

Sustainability will be a key style at the Singapore Airshow,. which opens on Tuesday.

During the program, Airbus will fly its A350-1000. widebody airplane with a 35% blend of SAF provided by Shell. Aviation and made with cooking oil and tallow.

Singapore Airlines' Chief Sustainability Officer,. Lee Wen Fen, stated that using contemporary airplanes to replace older. jets that use more fuel is the most efficient choice while the. market waits on SAF production to ramp up. ($ 1 = 1.3446 Singapore dollars)

(source: Reuters)