Writer

Charlotte Bailey

As the UAE works toward implementing its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) roadmap, a current “soft requirement” for a voluntary 1% blend could soon be superseded by a compulsory mandate. Speaking at an Airbus event on the opening morning of the Dubai Airshow, Sharif Al Olama, undersecretary for energy and petroleum affairs at the UAE’s ministry of energy and infrastructure, explained that over the next year, a “comprehensive assessment” on the initiative’s economic impact will inform future regulation.
“We want to hit the ground running [regarding SAF],” Al Olama said. “We in the UAE have the power to drive this at a global scale.” Indeed, over the next week, he will be holding meetings with Abu Dhabi Airport, Dubai Airport, Etihad Airways, and Emirates to discuss “when we can move to the next phase.” Overall, he cites these parties’ reactions as “very positive,” with the UAE’s SAF and LCAF [Lower Carbon Aviation Fuel] Committee also “playing a role in terms of mediating between the offtakers and the suppliers.”
Al Olama believes the region is well poised to help spearhead SAF for a number of reasons. “First and most important is [the UAE’s] capability of attracting investment, availing finance, and then also the ease of doing business. The second is a very agile government. […] And third, we do have certain resources that can help us deliver these kind of mandates,” he told AIN. An initiative underway in Hong Kong to convert airport waste into SAF is also a “blueprint we can apply immediately elsewhere,” he added, noting that “the scale of airports we have in the UAE” are ideally placed to benefit from a similar use of the “comprehensive ecosystem.”
Maryam Ali AlBalooshi, environment manager at the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, added that the pressure is on to deliver “a good result” by 2028. “We are trying to build our model in a different way [to other countries],” she suggested, concluding that while the UAE has the policy and roadmap in place, “other elements are [currently] lacking."

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