What the World Can Learn from the East on Innovation and Sustainability
Keat Lai
Investment Principal
SkiesFifty
The global transition to sustainable aviation is, in many ways, a story about applied innovation: how effectively the industry can turn its net zero ambitions into tangible results; how quickly societies can succeed at converting policy into long-term investment. Every year, the Global Innovation Index offers a revealing snapshot of that process, showing how nations organise themselves to turn ideas into impact. There is an enduring narrative around Switzerland’s continued leadership at the top of the chart, but a closer look at the data reveals another, quieter story: Singapore’s remarkable and consistent rise. Over successive years, the city-state has advanced through the rankings with precision and purpose.
The data reflect what many observers in the region already know intuitively — that Asia’s most successful economies are defined not by short bursts of innovation, but by an enduring culture of focus, competence, and long-term intent. The sustained improvement of Singapore and its peers is not coincidence; it is the product of coherent national strategy and patient investment in research, education, and infrastructure.
The Power of a Long-Term Lens
Across much of Asia, competence in execution is valued as highly as creativity in conception. Governments and institutions set objectives over timeframes measured in decades, not election cycles. The long-term orientation is both cultural and structural — reinforced by planning systems such as China’s Five-Year Plans, which provide continuity of direction even as tactics evolve.
Under its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–25), China established binding targets to reduce CO₂ intensity by 18 per cent and energy intensity by 13.5 per cent relative to 2020, and set a renewables-in-power objective of roughly 33 per cent of total consumption by 2025. The country has made rapid progress in renewables deployment, electric-vehicle adoption, and green infrastructure — and this has been a significant driver of adoption of sustainable technologies across the globe. However, much more progress will need to be made for China to meet its emissions-intensity goal in full.
Now, as China prepares its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–30), the emphasis is shifting toward “high-quality development”, industrial upgrading, technological self-reliance, and an accelerated clean-energy transition. The implications for sustainability are significant: the next planning cycle is expected to anchor China’s pathway to its 2030 emissions-peak and 2060 carbon-neutrality goals, shaping investment flows, energy security, and global supply chains for the remainder of this decade. It signals that the long-term lens remains firmly intact, with sustainability now embedded not as an aspiration, but as an organising principle of national growth. Given China exceeded most of its non-binding SAF targets in the 14th Five-Year Plan, expectations are that the 15th Five-Year Plan will introduce binding targets and more aggressive production targets which will trigger signals for investments.
Meanwhile Singapore’s recently enacted SAF levy (which comes into force in 2026) is a prime example of the public sector playing a coordinating role to aggregate demand and supply while managing the cost society has to pay to achieve its sustainability targets. The combination of a fixed SAF target alongside a dedicated SAF procurement fund provides price certainty and allows airlines and suppliers to plan ahead of demand.
This is not planning for perfection; it is planning for persistence. These frameworks ensure that policy does not oscillate with political sentiment, enabling investors and industries to commit capital with greater confidence. For long-horizon investors, this is a powerful advantage. The alignment of national strategy and capital markets creates a form of stability rare in many Western economies. It provides the breathing space for complex technologies — from sustainable fuels to next-generation batteries — to mature and scale.
Asia’s Role in the Renewable Transition
Asia’s contribution to the renewable-energy revolution has been significant. While the region’s continued use of fossil fuels attracts justified criticism, this should be balanced with its transformative role in driving down the global cost of renewables. Through sustained industrial strategy and scale, China accounts for more than 60% of global manufacturing capacity in solar, wind, and battery technologies, and nearly all solar wafers, reducing costs worldwide and enabling an unprecedented acceleration in adoption. Between 2010 and 2023, the average price of solar photovoltaic modules fell by around 90 per cent, largely due to Chinese overcapacity and supply-chain efficiency. The resulting cost deflation has been, in effect, a global subsidy — one that has made solar power accessible far beyond China’s borders.
This is a form of collective global benefit created through national intent. By treating renewables as a long-term industrial priority, Asian economies have effectively subsidised global progress through policies that encourage investments which drive down the cost curve of green technology.
At SkiesFifty, we see these dynamics play out daily as we evaluate innovations in sustainable aviation, including global SAF and decarbonisation opportunities. The centre of gravity in sustainable technology continues to tilt towards regions that align ambition, industrial depth, and patient capital.
A Global Perspective
From my vantage point in Hong Kong, the contrasts between regions are clear. In Europe, the sustainability agenda is largely regulatory; in the United States, it is shaped by tax benefits, entrepreneurial drive and the energy of private capital. Across Asia, by contrast, the approach is strategic and coordinated between both private and public sectors — informed by a belief that progress requires both direction and duration.
None of these models is complete on its own. True global progress depends on the interplay between them — the rule-based discipline of Europe, the innovation of the United States, and the long-term coherence of Asia.
The global sustainability debate has entered a more pragmatic era. Some governments are recalibrating their climate commitments; others are adjusting pace, but the underlying trajectory remains forward. The shift is not from ambition to apathy, but from slogans to structure.
The scale of the task
The scale of what must be achieved remains immense. Renewables currently supply only around 3.5 per cent of transport fuel globally, according to the International Energy Agency. To remain on track for net-zero emissions by 2050, renewable energy supply needs to grow by about 15 per cent every year until 2030. For aviation in particular, the required scale-up is immense: while major mandates like the EU's 'ReFuelEU Aviation' target a 6% SAF share by 2030 and 70% by 2050, some net-zero pathways suggest an even higher trajectory, demanding SAF account for as much as 15% of all jet fuel by 2030 and rising to around 75% by 2050 to remain on track.
The gap between ambition and current capacity is stark. Yet within that gap lies vast opportunity. To meet these targets, SAF production must scale more than two hundredfold within the next decade. By 2030, this could represent a $90-billion annual market, supporting new industrial ecosystems, creating high-value jobs, and driving growth across multiple regions.
This is not only an environmental imperative but also an economic one. The technologies that will underpin the next generation of energy and mobility require capital with a long horizon and an appetite for complexity. Their gestation periods exceed electoral terms, and the rewards — both financial and societal — will endure over decades.
The Long View
As the world wakes up to the scale of this opportunity, the lesson from Asia becomes even more relevant. As Krishnan Narayanan, SkiesFifty’s Chairman often observes:
“The true advantage of a globalised world is the possibility to learn laterally — to take what works in one geography and apply it thoughtfully in another. Progress accelerates when nations observe, adapt, and refine rather than compete for ownership of ideas. Yet this is rarely automatic; it requires persistence, sensitivity, and an ability to shape insights to local realities.”
So, with this in mind, what is the most important lesson the world might take from Asia? I believe it is that durability of vision often outperforms the drama of disruption. Much of the region’s progress has been achieved through steady, coordinated effort — the quiet discipline of persistence rather than the noise of constant reinvention.
When decisions are framed in decades rather than months, perspective returns. Short-term uncertainty becomes part of the natural rhythm of growth, not a deterrent to it. Competence, consistency, and long-term conviction are qualities that underpin sustainable innovation. They reward both investors and societies by generating enduring value, creating robust long-term returns and, in doing so, financing the cleaner, more resilient future which will benefit the entire world.