Aviation’s Ticket to Decarbonisation
How business can help sustainable aviation fuel take flight
Aviation travel is a major single source of scope 3 emissions in most public and private sector organisations contributing to as much as a third of an organisation’s overall emissions. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) provides a critical near-term decarbonisation solution for organisations seeking to meet their net-zero targets.
This report, Aviation’s Ticket to Decarbonisation, highlights the potential of SAF and outlines a roadmap for business procurement and adoption.
For many organisations, air travel is a significant driver of scope 3 emissions often being the largest single contributor to their total carbon emissions after Purchased Goods and Services. To retain market credibility and competitiveness, it is important for organisations to take active steps to decarbonise their corporate travel.
Due to its significant emissions reduction potential and relative commercial viability, SAF is an optimal near-term decarbonisation mechanism to drive meaningful scope 3 emissions reductions associated with the aviation industry today.
Leading companies are helping to accelerate the production of SAF through coalitions such as World Economic Forum (WEF), Clear Skies for Tomorrow Coalition and direct investment in SAF credits from producers or airlines.
SAF has been shown to reduce up to 80% of CO2e lifecycle emissions compared to fossil fuels.
This new report, ‘Aviation’s ticket to decarbonisation: How business can help sustainable aviation fuel take flight’ provides an overview of the SAF landscape in Asia Pacific. The report offers a foundational starting point for leaders who would like to understand the key considerations that apply to their organisation in a transition to SAF, and the steps to do so.
Short-term solutions such as carbon offsetting have become common practice for businesses to reduce their emissions from corporate travel. However, there are limitations to offsetting. First, an overreliance on carbon offsets can perpetuate business-as-usual thinking and can enable increased operational emissions, negating the purpose of the offsets to lower the overall emissions in the atmosphere. Second, as of May 2024, net-zero commitments made under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), as 1.5°C-aligned, means that carbon offsets may only be used to reduce up to 10% of baseline emissions in the year of net-zero claim.
Given the limitations of carbon offsetting, there is need to prioritise solutions that directly address the emissions source. As opposed to offsetting, insetting is a financial instrument which involves the direct funding of carbon avoidance or removal projects to reduce absolute emissions. In the context of reducing aviation emissions, insetting options include the pre-purchasing of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), often in the form of credits.
