China is likely to unveil more detail on its rumoured SAF policy in 2025. The country gradually released the first components of its SAF policy in 2024, when it launched a new sustainability certification body in Chengdu and a consultation on domestic fuel standards, while piloting SAF usage with Air China, China Eastern and China Southern in September 2024. In Hong Kong SAR, a policy white paper released by the Hong Kong SAF Coalition recommended a SAF uplift blueprint and a feasibility study into a levy mechanism to encourage SAF uptake.46 Although Japan was one of the first countries to propose a SAF mandate, many of the executives consulted for this report believe the country’s SAF sector is developing slowly. Respondents that attended one of the regional Airports of Tomorrow roundtables in Tokyo concurred that Japan’s ability to produce SAF in the short term may be limited. However, they remained confident that with a level playing field among carriers domestically and internationally to spur demand, along with the right supply-side incentives, most SAF production pathways could be scaled-up in Japan. While domestically produced fuel is unlikely to meet all the demand for SAF in Japan, there is particular interest in scaling-up HEFA in the short term and e-fuels in the long term. However, large quantities of used cooking oil are currently exported to other countries, with limited options for new offtakes with restaurants – although trials for improved collection in Hokkaido are showing promising results. For Japan to remain competitive, argue executives from its domestic aviation industry, the government needs to roll out additional incentives. Latin America Latin America also saw some key market developments. Brazil signed its Fuels of the Future bill into law in October 2024:47 this established its national SAF programme and introduced a mandate on carriers to reduce GHG emissions by 1% in 2027, gradually ramping up to 10% in 2037 – although this abatement does not necessarily need to come from SAF. The Brazil government also announced an investment of around $1 billion to stimulate SAF production through biorefineries development as well as research and development. As of November 2024, the government has been evaluating the 76 proposals received, which totalled a value of around $28 billion (of which 43 proposals worth $20 billion have fuel production as the main goal). In April 2024, Chile announced its SAF Roadmap 2030, focused on starting local production by 2030 and setting a target of 50% SAF by 2050, with a promising role for power-to-liquid. Chile and Brazil established a partnership creating a joint working group on SAF, which aims to share best practices, regulatory and market experience, and technical and scientific knowledge on SAF development. The ‘Future Fuel Law’ in Brazil has created the regulatory framework that allows the development of SAF projects. Our company is already developing biorefineries in Brazil and Paraguay. We believe it is very important to define global mandates and certification systems considering local aspects. This will boost the market with offtakes and facilitate financing for SAF projects worldwide. Erasmo Carlos Battistella, Chief Executive Officer, Be8 Middle East In the Middle East, following the introduction of the United Arab Emirates’ SAF policy in 2023, Oman announced the development of local SAF policies and standards during 2024. Other countries in the region have not yet implemented comprehensive national SAF policies, but are formulating strategies or leveraging partnerships for SAF development. This includes Saudi Arabia, where the General Authority of Civil Aviation convened the inaugural Civil Aviation Environmental Sustainability Program Implementation Committee in November 2024, designed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 by tracking progress and providing guidelines to the aviation sector. Europe Europe has strong SAF policy foundations in place: its mandate under the ReFuelEU initiative requires a 2% share of SAF in EU airports from January 2025 and the bloc features complementary policies such as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Yet there are very few SAF production facilities that are non-HEFA, few co-processing plants48 and only a handful of SAF projects going through FID. Not all European countries have committed funding for SAF programmes, although, notably, the United Kingdom has confirmed an additional revenue support mechanism for the industry. The report by Mario Draghi on the future of European competitiveness estimates that €61 billion a year will be needed for aviation decarbonization in the continent, which is seen as a priority for the sector to remain competitive.49 United States In the US, the Clean Fuels Production Credit (section 45Z) was set to provide a tax credit from 1 January 2025 for the production of transportation fuels with lifecycle GHG emissions below certain levels. Days before the incoming Trump administration took over, the US Treasury Global Aviation Sustainability Outlook 2025 20