The Present and Future of Sustainable Aviation Fuels in China

The aviation industry is one of the industries “hard to reduce emission” and a potentially important carbon emitter. Unless additional emissions reduction efforts are made, the cumulative CO2 emissions from international aviation operations alone will account for 7.0% of total global emissions over the 2020–2050 period. Accelerating the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) will be the most important measure for the global aviation industry to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The SAF market in China is still in its early stages. Since there is no clear mandatory policy requirement, the demand market has not yet been formed, and the industry chain is mostly in a state of knowledge accumulation. However, both the availability of feedstocks and the capacity potential on the supply side can meet the market demand for SAF in China to a certain extent. The Chinese government's advance development of SAF industrialization, the release of positive policy signals, and the provision of targeted policy support will help guide the industry chain to act in concert, promote the green recovery of China's air transportation industry after the pandemic, and make an important contribution to the achievement of China's carbon emission peaking and carbon neutrality goals and enhance energy security.