Successful Aviation Decarbonisation Through SAF & Innovations

Day 2 : 13:50 – 14:40

Aviation is one of the hard-to-abate sectors because of the use of carbon intensive jet fuel without alternatives. With the latest technological advancement, lower-carbon Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is considered the most feasible solution in near- to medium-term. However, Maximising the decarbonisation potential of SAF requires collaboration between sectors in the supply chain, and the policy incentives from the Government to make the business environment favourable to the uptake of SAF. Aside from SAF, industry stakeholders are also exploring other technological and systemic innovations to decarbonise aviation. This session will discuss such innovations and how to strengthen SAF development in Hong Kong.

Learnings   

  • What are the current climate challenges perceived by the aviation industry?
  • How do other regions do to promote the uptake of SAF?
  • What are the other technological and systematic innovations that are promising for aviation decarbonisation ?
  • How can we take a step further to make Hong Kong aviation more sustainable, in the context of regulation, finance mechanism, supply and demand, SAF positioning in holistic HK context?

Post-event Actions   

  • Adopt practices to support the aviation sectors to make wider use of SAF a reality in Hong Kong.
  • Strengthen Hong Kong’s position as sustainable aviation hub through innovative decarbonisation initiatives.

Speakers

Merlin Lao

Head – Policy & Research

Mr. Merlin Lao is Head of Policy & Research at BEC. He leads the team to share develop clear policy positions on pressing climate and environmental topics in Hong Kong, through undertaking research on latest domestic and international trends, engaging with the Hong Kong SAR Government and connecting insights of the local business sector.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Mainstream circular economy actions along all value chain processes.

Grace Cheung

Cathay Pacific

General Manager Sustainability

Grace Cheung is the General Manager of Group Sustainability Department at Cathay Pacific. Since taking up her role in 2017, Grace has turned sustainability from a standalone specialist function to an integrated strategic and operational imperative in the airline group.
During Grace’s tenure, Cathay Pacific has committed for its net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050, supported by its mid-term target for using 10% sustainable aviation fuel(SAF) by 2030. The airline group is a founding member of Hong Kong Sustainable Aviation Fuel Coalition (HKSAFC)in 2024 and has also launched the first major Corporate SAF Programme in Asia in 2022. The airline has also cut more than 50% of its inflight single-use plastics (SUP) in 2023 compared to 2018.
Grace represents the airline in a number of industry working groups devoted to sustainability and environmental issues, including the ones at International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Oneworld Alliance.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

1. HK Government releases a more concrete policy to support SAF deployment in HK without negative impact on the competitiveness of HK’s role of international aviation hub.
2. The awareness of importance of SAF from the public is enhanced.

Vincent De Givry

Blunomy

Principal

Vincent is a specialist in energy transition for businesses and financial institutions. He has been for 2 years with Blunomy, a strategy advisory firm based in Hong Kong. Prior to this, he spent 30 years working in industry, the last 5 of which were spent transforming business portfolios with a low carbon offering. He is passionate about analysing opportunities, changing business models, building coalitions and looking in detail at the challenges to successful decarbonisation. He has strong expertise in the Asian market, advising some major companies on their energy and climate transition.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

Support Hong Kong in drawing up a solid roadmap for energy transition that can be rapidly activated and that will enable the city to become a world leader and a green benchmark

Sarah Lang

Lufthansa Group

Chief of Staff/ Sustainability Representative APAC

Sarah works as Chief of Staff and sustainability Representative for Lufthansa Group in APAC. She has more than 10 years of experience in International Consulting and Mobility Start-ups focusing on, Digital Transformation and Sustainability Strategy.

Chris Wong

Airport Authority Hong Kong

Assistant General Manager – Property Portfolio & Aviation Franchises

Chris is currently the Assistant General Manager for Property Portfolio & Aviation Franchises for the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).

He is responsible for overseeing the aviation franchises at HKIA including aviation fuel, air catering, aircraft maintenance and business aviation, etc. He manages the property portfolio of HKIA which covers airport hotels and airline offices. He works closely with the industry stakeholders in managing the aviation fuel system of HKIA especially the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Chris has over 20 years of experience in aviation and logistics industry. Before joining AAHK, he was working in a listed conglomerate in Hong Kong with active involvement in various infrastructure investments such as Airport, Railway, Port Terminal and Logistic Centre. He was also a core member in the investment and development of a top 10 global aircraft lessor with a fleet of over 200 aircraft.

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With thanks to