Cathay Pacific has teamed up with the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) supply chain in China. The agreement will cover four SAF plants under SPIC.
The four SAF plants are expected to be commissioned between 2024 and 2026 with the capacity to produce 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of SAF annually. The plants will use a pathway similar to Power-to-Liquids to generate the SAF, converting renewable electricity into liquid fuels.
Qian Zhimin, Chairman, SPIC said: “The signing of our cooperation pact is an important milestone in SPIC’s sustainable development pursuits, and a significant contribution by a Chinese enterprise towards supporting sustainable development in the global aviation sector. We hope both parties can build on our collaboration in the certification and purchase of SAF to further cooperate in areas pertaining to the industry supply chain, project development and securing the necessary policy support.”
Excited to partner with SPIC, Ronald Lam, Group CEO, Cathay Pacific said: “Cathay Pacific has a target of using SAF for 10% of its total fuel consumption by 2030, which is a core component towards reaching our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This collaboration brings together the complementary advantages of SPIC’s strengths in the field of clean energy with Cathay Pacific’s expertise as an end-user of SAF. We hope this partnership will play an important role in the decarbonisation of the aviation industry.”
Cathay Pacific will share international experience and the feedback on the SAF certification process, value chain and overall market know-how to facilitate SPIC in the successful establishment of four SAF plants in the Chinese Mainland.