Singapore sets up centre to advance sustainable aviation in APAC

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has set up the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Aviation Centre (APSAC) to advance sustainable aviation in the region through policy research, facilitating collaboration and capacity-building.

Its board will be chaired by CAAS director-general Han Kok Juan, while its founding CEO will be Philip Goh, airline industry veteran and former regional vice-president for APAC at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said CAAS on Thursday (10 July).

Han noted that APAC’s air travel demand is expected to treble over the next 20 years, “enabling tremendous economic development and supporting the aspirations of a rising middle class”.

At the same time, APAC states are committed to tackling climate change, which will support aviation’s global net-zero emission goals.

“APAC states want both growth and sustainability, not one at the expense of the other,” he noted.

APSAC thus aims to provide “a menu of policy options and instruments” for countries to achieve sustainability goals while accounting for their own circumstances.

The centre will advance sustainable aviation in three key ways.

Firstly, it will carry out policy research in areas such as cleaner fuels, carbon accounting, and carbon market development, as well as green financing. Another potential area is the economics of sustainable aviation fuel supply chains.

Secondly, it will facilitate collaboration across government, industry, and academia, for joint studies and projects.

Finally, it will support capacity-building by governments and companies, through offering technical assistance and training.
 

For a start, the centre will launch a five-day foundational course on growing aviation sustainably, with topics such as challenges and opportunities in sustainable aviation fuel, and airline and airport sustainability management. It aims to hold the first run in November 2025 or early 2026.

“The industry lacks courses on understanding sustainable aviation issues from an ecosystem perspective,” said Goh. “So our very first course will be targeted at that: equipping people with that kind of broad-based (knowledge), so that they can connect what affects what, and how it all works in the end.”

He expects this course to run three to four times a year from 2026.

APSAC will also plan courses to meet needs identified in regional engagements, he added, and will look at holding country-specific workshops when it has the resources.

The centre will build a team of up to 10 people in the next year or year-and-a-half. While it will identify courses to offer and develop their curriculum, it will tap its network of industry experts to provide content and facilitate.

Here, APSAC will lean on an advisory council of key partners in aviation, energy and green financing – comprising senior executives from Airbus, Boeing, Chevron, ExxonMobil, GenZero, IATA, and Neste – for guidance.

To formalise this, the council partners, CAAS and APSAC will sign a memorandum of understanding on 14 July at the Global Aviation and Maritime Symposium.

On the same day, CAAS and APSAC will engage the directors-general of APAC civil aviation authorities of more than 20 states in a roundtable, to understand their sustainable aviation plans and how the centre can support them.
 

First High-Level Aviation Week

The Roundtable on Advancing Sustainable Aviation is one of seven events in the inaugural High-Level Aviation Week. Held by CAAS from 14 to 19 July, it will bring together governments and industry leaders to discuss the future of aviation.

“It is a response to the fundamental changes to the global operating environment and its impact on global aviation, and the need for us to come together to... formulate strategies that are joined up across domains and across countries,” noted Han.

Besides sustainable aviation, there will be events on shaping the future of aviation; facilitating advanced air mobility (air taxis and drones); ensuring aviation safety; and building a quality workforce and enabling opportunities. There will also be a dedicated meeting of Pacific small island states, looking at how they can collaborate.
 

Source: The Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.