10 Sept 2025

On 10 September 2025, as part of the series of activities under NUS Sustainability Connect, the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) launched its latest white paper, Sustainable Business in Biofuels, in the presence of industry experts, students from the Msc in Sustainable and Green Finance programme, and other invited participants.

The session opened with a presentation by Prof. Zhang Weina, who provided a comprehensive discussion of the key insights from the white paper. Specifically, she explored the four generations of biofuels and their roles in the global energy transition. She also highlighted the potential revenue and cost streams available to biofuel producers — from diversification opportunities that boost profitability to efficiency measures that reduce costs — drawing on landscape data and case studies. Prof. Zhang noted that many biofuel producers have benefited tangibly from circular production processes. She further emphasised the major risks faced by biofuel producers across different life-cycle stages, with the highest risks concentrated in the early phases of development. Drawing on private financing data from PitchBook, she observed that private financing remains insufficient, signalling the need for additional concessional capital and stronger government support to accelerate the sector’s growth. Moreover, she explained that the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) for biofuels remains high and has changed little relative to other clean energy sources, reinforcing the urgency of targeted policy measures to improve the cost competitiveness of biofuels.

Following the presentation, a panel discussion was held featuring Mr. Winston Zhuo (Asia Pacific Business Development Director, ExxonMobil), Mr. Edward Choi (Chief Strategy and Investment Officer, Apeiron Bioenergy), Mr. Ajay Prabhakaran (General Manager, ecoWise), and Prof Zhang as panellists. The panel was moderated by Ms. Priyanka Dhingra, Senior Specialist at the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.

The panellists shared a common perspective that achieving commercial viability depends on three critical conditions:.

1. Strong and stable demand for biofuels: Without clear and sustained market demand, producers may be hesitant to invest in the sector. Strong demand would also allow producers to negotiate better financing terms and invest in innovation.
2. Consistent and stable supply of feedstocks: Fluctuations in feedstock supply and prices pose a major risk for many biofuel producers, as they can significantly affect production costs and margins, hindering scale-up. To address this, producers can establish long-term partnerships and strengthen the security of feedstock supply wherever possible.
3. Supportive and coherent government policies: Clear and consistent mandates can provide the certainty required to stimulate long-term demand, while subsidies, grants, and incentives can channel much-needed capital into the sector. This is especially critical for producers of more advanced generations of biofuels, who face significant upfront capital expenditure (capex).

The white paper, the result of more than two years of work by six SGFIN researchers, is available at: https://sgfin.nus.edu.sg/sgfin_white_papers_10/.

We extend our sincere appreciation to all the panellists, guests, and collaborators who supported the development and launch of this paper. The institute looks forward to continued dialogue among biofuel producers, investors, and policymakers to drive the sector forward.