Pakistan SAF technology developments are positioning the agricultural-rich nation as a potential dark horse in Asia’s race toward aviation decarbonisation. As Asian airlines face mounting pressure to reduce emissions amid global climate imperatives, Pakistan’s unique approach of converting agricultural waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could offer a regional model worth examining.

Converting an environmental problem into economic opportunity

The smog that blankets major Pakistani and neighbouring Indian cities each harvest season has become an annual crisis, driven largely by the burning of agricultural residue. The practice, particularly prevalent in Punjab province, releases particulate matter that compromises air quality across borders.

However, this challenge presents a technological opportunity that Pakistan’s emerging SAF sector aims to capitalise on. “Crop residues burned during both winter and summer in Pakistan represent an underutilised resource with immense potential for SAF production,” noted experts in an April 2025 report by The Express Tribune, highlighting a practical technological solution to an entrenched environmental issue.

The technology equation

Pakistan SAF technology implementation focuses on two principal conversion methods, each suited to different agricultural inputs:

1. Hydroprocessing Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA): For lipid-based feedstocks including used cooking oil and non-edible oils
2. Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ): Optimised for converting sugar-based inputs like wheat straw and rice husks

The technologies produce aviation fuels chemically identical to conventional jet fuel, requiring no aircraft modifications, and deliver substantially improved carbon profiles. A third technology using carbon dioxide capture remains in development but holds promise for further emissions reductions. Dr Adeel Ghayur, described by The Express Tribune as an “eminent energy scientist and expert in circular economy,” indicated that commercial SAF technologies can scale from 100,000 to one million tonnes of annual production capacity, with corresponding economic impacts.

Asia’s first private SAF project

The December 2024 announcement of a $121 million SAF facility in Sheikhupura represented a milestone not just for Pakistan but for all of Asia. According to Pakistan Today, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed $86.2 million to the project, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) providing $35 million. What makes this development particularly noteworthy in the Asian context is its designation by the ADB as “the first private sector-led SAF project in Asia and the Pacific,” excluding China.

For a region where state involvement typically dominates energy infrastructure, this private-sector approach merits attention from investors and policymakers across Asia. The facility is operated by SAFCO Venture Holdings Limited and owned by Taimur Shaikh and Ali Shaikh, and presents compelling environmental and economic metrics: projected annual production of 200,000 tonnes of SAF, reduction of 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide yearly, creation of 300 direct jobs, and facilitation of approximately 20,000 indirect employment opportunities in the supply chain and tertiary industries.

The regional competitiveness question

While Pakistan’s SAF ambitions are technologically sound, important questions remain about its competitiveness in an Asian market where Singapore, Japan, and South Korea have already established advanced biofuel capabilities.

The price difference remains substantial, with SAF currently commanding approximately $2,500 per metric tonne versus $700 for conventional jet fuel. For price-sensitive Asian carriers navigating post-pandemic recovery, this cost gap presents significant challenges to adoption.

Dr. Ghayur said in The Express Tribune that “strengthening R&D is essential for Pakistan to remain competitive in the global SAF market, secure its position as a hub for innovation, and maintain leadership as SAF adoption rises across Asia.” The acknowledgement reflects awareness of the technological race underway in the region.

For Asian nations with similar agricultural profiles – Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia – Pakistan’s SAF initiative offers a potential template for converting agricultural waste into aviation biofuels and addresses seasonal air pollution events. The multiplicative benefits – enhanced energy security, emissions reductions, rural economic opportunities, and foreign direct investment – align with development priorities across South and Southeast Asia.

Four-dimensional solution

Pakistan SAF technology implementation addresses four interconnected challenges that resonate in developing Asian economies:

1. Energy security: Reducing petroleum import dependence via domestic production
2. Economic development: Creating value-added manufacturing with substantial job creation potential
3. Foreign direct investment: Attracting capital for industrial-scale bioprocessing operations
4. Environmental mitigation: Addressing agricultural burning emissions and aviation carbon footprints

Critical path forward

For Pakistan’s SAF sector to achieve its potential, several hurdles will need to be surmounted. First, continued investment beyond the initial Sheikhupura facility will be necessary to achieve meaningful scale. Second, as SAF technologies evolve, Pakistan will need to maintain technological competitiveness through sustained R&D investment. Finally, efficiency improvements in agricultural waste collection and transportation will be essential to maintain favourable economics.

The byproduct potential enhances the business case further, with SAFCO’s facility projected to produce 18,000 tonnes of bionaphtha annually for sustainable plastics production, according to Pakistan Today.

As Dr Ghayur concluded in The Express Tribune, “The comprehensive policy roadmap will serve as both a blueprint and a catalyst to propel Pakistan to the forefront of the global SAF revolution.”

While significant challenges remain in scaling production, optimising costs, and matching competitive alternatives, Pakistan’s SAF technology trajectory represents a distinctive approach to circular economy implementation with potential regional application across all of Asia’s agricultural economies.

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In Pakistan, power outages scheduled by the country’s strained public electric utilities frequently hit households, lasting as long as 10 hours a day in towns and cities and up to 16 hours in rural areas.

The situation is worse during the brutally hot summer months, when air-conditioners often overload the national grid.

Buying solar panels to create power at home might seem an obvious way to bridge the gap. But although the panels have been available since 2014 in Aslam’s town of Larkana, in the southern province of Sindh, the 35-year-old entrepreneur waited two years before finally installing one.

Cost wasn’t the problem. Instead, he said, he was put off by rumours solar panels would actually make things worse.

Unscrupulous local utility officials, he says, told him the dark-coloured solar panels, built to absorb the sun’s rays and convert them to electricity, would increase the ambient heat in the buildings they were attached to, pushing the temperature indoors even higher.

According to Aslam, the officials even said the growing use of solar panels was to blame for the more frequent and intense heat waves  Pakistan has experienced – something scientists say is entirely untrue.

Climate change and worsening extreme heat are intead driven largely by a huge expansion in the use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas since the start of the industrial revolution, they say.

“I discovered it was a fake rumour only after I installed the solar system on the insistence of my friend, a graduate in electric engineering,” Aslam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

His friend assured him the rumours were just a trick by utility company employees bent on discouraging wide-scale adoption of solar energy adoption in order to safeguard their jobs.

Public power utility Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) general managerTariq Mehmood said he was not aware of any employees spreading rumours.

“Our power utility has nothing to do with (any rumours) and disowns them. People shouldn’t believe them,” Mehmood said in a telephone interview.

‘A great relief’

Aslam’s new solar home system – two solar panels, four ceiling fans, four energy-saving lights and a rechargeable battery – cost him US$500.

During the day, the system powers the ceiling fans and stores enough electricity in the battery to run the fans and lights for six or seven hours at night if the grid electricity supply goes off. The battery can recharge in sunlight in three hours.

“We have fans and lights (that) remain on whenever power outages hit us. What makes me more happy is that my family feels a great relief thanks to it.” – Aslam.

Abdul Karim, a solar panel retailer at the Aabpara electronic market in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, said prospective customers often mentioned having heard the rumours solar panels add to heat problems.

“To prove these rumours wrong, often I have to take them to my rooftop to show them the solar system that powers my shop,” Karim said. “Then many buy solar systems from me.”

As solar home systems become more affordable, many households see them as an alternative to trying to get a new electrical connection via the public power utilities.

According to Mir Ahmad Shah, executive secretary of the Pakistan Renewable and Alternative Energy Association, public utilities that control power distribution and supply fear the gradual adoption of solar energy will make people less reliant on the national grid.

“Employees of the public power utilities are hampering this growing shift to solar energy through rumours, because they fear the growing adoption solar energy systems will lead to overall revenue decline from new connection applications,” Shah said.

Cash for service?

Retired Pakistan Railways employee Raja Jameel said he was unsuccessful in getting a grid connection two year ago for his new home in Ghouri, a rural locality on Islamabad’s outskirts.

Jameel said in an interview:

“What (finally) worked in a matter of a few hours to get what I was denied for nearly four months was a US$50 bribe to an Iesco superintendent.”

He said he believed in some utility companies, employees responsible for approving new power connections tried to dissuade potential solar adopters by spreading false rumours about the panels, largely because they did not want to lose potential bribes for approving new grid connections.

Jameel plans to build a second storey onto his home to rent out, but he says he will install a 2-kilowatt solar home system to power it, rather than begging for a new power connection from the utility.

Iesco’s Mehmood said although the utility had periodically received complaints from customers about bribe-taking, it had taken steps to reduce the problem.

“IESCO management has controlled (bribe-taking) through a strong online public complaint redressal system established a few years ago. Besides, we have made the process of sanctioning and issuing new electricity connection systems more transparent and hassle-free,” Mehmood said.

In Pakistan power rests with those who are good at corruption and money laundering.

— Walid Khan (@Iamwalidkhaan) May 26, 2017

In an interview outside the Parliament building in Islamabad, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali did not deny that power distribution companies, including Iesco, have had problems with corruption, but said the government took all complaints regarding such matters seriously.

“We have a zero tolerance policy regarding bribery in the public power utilities across the country,” Ali said.

The minister said there was a robust complaints mechanism, and that any employees found to have been corrupt are demoted or dismissed. – Reuters

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The conviction of Taimoor Raza, 30, follows a high-profile crackdown against blasphemy on social media by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive topic in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where insulting the Prophet Mohammad is a capital crime for which dozens are sitting on death row. Even mere accusations are enough to spark mass uproar and mob justice.

Death penalty for a Facebook post? Sadly, not a joke but Pakistan's ludicrous punishment for non-crime of blasphemy https://t.co/OGr6ovGW3I pic.twitter.com/2PGKFAyf78

— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) June 10, 2017

Shafiq Qureshi, public prosecutor in Bahawalpur, about 500km (300 miles) south of provincial capital Lahore, said Raza was convicted for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad, his wives and companions.

“An anti terrorism court of Bahawalpur has awarded him the death sentence,” Qureshi told Reuters.” It is the first ever death sentence in a case that involves social media.”

It is rare for a counter-terrorism court to hear blasphemy cases but Raza’s trial fell under this category because his charge sheet included counter-terrorism offences linked to hate speech.

Qureshi said Raza was arrested after playing blasphemous and hate speech material on his phone on a bus stop in Bahawalpur, where a counter-terrorism officer arrested him and confiscated his phone. The material obtained from the phone led to Raza’s conviction, he added.

“The trial was conducted in Bahawapur jail in tight security,” Qureshi said.

SEE ALSO: Pakistan: Software provider Inbox to help govt go digital

Qureshi added that Raza belongs to the minority Shia community and in court he accused of spreading “hate speech” against the Deobani sect, which adheres to a strict school of Sunni Islam.

Relations between Shia and majority Sunni communities have flared up at times in Pakistan, with some extremist Sunni groups such as Lashkhar-e-Janghvi trying to exploit sectarian tensions.

Several other violent incidents linked to blasphemy accusations have alarmed human rights groups and activists in recent months.

Police are currently investigating over 20 students and some faculty members in connection with the killing of Mashal Khan, a student who was beaten to death on April following a dorm debate about religion – an attack that shocked the country.

A brave father stands at the grave of his brave son. Rest in peace Mashal Khan. #MashalKhan #RIP #Mardan #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/xKhQcfLNHD

— Progressive Pakistan (@PKprogressive) May 25, 2017

Since then, parliament has discussed adding safeguards to the blasphemy laws, a move seen as groundbreaking in Pakistan where political leaders have been assassinated for even discussing changes.

As Raza’s blasphemy conviction was under the counter-terrorism court, he will be able to appeal his sentence in the High Court and later in the Supreme Court.

There have been at least 67 murders over unproven allegations since 1990, according to figures from a research centre and independent records kept by Reuters. – Reuters

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Inbox – Pakistan’s largest IT company – is pairing with the government to digitize most of their paperwork. Inbox began as an assembler of hardware back in 2001, but has since shifted their business model to include software and infrastructure management services. The company will put up a 39 percent stake in a move scheduled for June, with an eye to double their revenue in the next five years.

As of now, Inbox is working with the government on large infrastructure projects, including organizing, installing and building digital systems for mass transport systems in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Pakistan on way to digital adoption
Inbox Tech plans IPO
Dell separates Pakistan from South Asia Group 4 more focus
https://t.co/Q4f0N5G00s

— Musadaq Zulqarnain (@MusadaqZ) June 1, 2017

Unlike neighboring countries, Pakistan has lagged behind in the adoption of technology in administrative processes. Many governmental departments still adhere to manual, paper-based systems. The government wants to change all that though, thus opening up a ripe market for digital companies to begin growing in the country and offer services as in India.

It might also not be surprising the the announcement comes ahead of next year’s elections, with current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seeking to bring some much-needed disruption to the Asian country. Pakistan has seen its economy explode in the last few years, and a digital infusion could boost it further.

SEE ALSO: The New Luddites: WEF’s Nick Davis on Fourth Industrial Revolution and future of work

“Our own industries are now starting and taking notice of the digital disruption concept and they are getting more and more automated,” Nasir said, according to Bloomberg. “You need Pakistani Tatas and Wipros.”

As of now, Inbox’s largest customer is the government, who provides them with roughly 80 percent of their revenue, while banks and telecommunication companies are also feeding the industry. The infusion of capital will be directed at helping Inbox secure future contracts.

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The Malware Infection Index 2016 highlights threats undermining cybersecurity in the region.

“Out of the top five locations across the globe most at risk of infection, a total of four are from the Asia Pacific — Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal,” Microsoft said on its website.

Microsoft’s search engine Bing lists malware as a confusing term, as a survey on the definition led to range of conflicting answers. However, Microsoft uses malware as an umbrella term. Short for malicious software, malware is general name for programs that perform unwanted actions on PCs, such as stealing personal information.

SEE ALSO: Apple withdraws some China apps after malware found

“Some malware can steal your banking details, lock your PC until you pay a ransom, or use your PC to send spam. Viruses, worms and trojans are all types of malware,” a description in Bing’s glossary read.

Gamarue, Skeeyah, and Peals were identified as the top three malware programs encountered in the Asia-Pacific that were designed to cause damage to a single computer, server, or computer network. These can take the form of either computer viruses or spyware.

Other major cyber attacks identified by Microsoft were Distributed Denial of Service (DDos), which paralyse online services by overwhelming them with traffic, and identity theft.

Microsoft advised organisations to use genuine and updated software, have stronger internal IT policies, and have trusted anti-malware solutions.

Microsoft Asia IP & Digital Crimes Unit Regional Director Keshav Dhakad said: “It takes an average of 200 days for organizations to find out they have been victims of cyber attacks.”

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PAKISTAN has lifted its three-year ban of YouTube after the website’s parent company, Google, launched a localized version of the video-sharing website on Monday.

The Islamic republic had banned YouTube under a court order from September 2012 for carrying a controversial made-in-America movie trailer that had sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.

The movie “Innocence of Muslims” was considered blasphemous and derogatory to Islam for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad.

Some of the most intense protests erupted in Pakistan, where the role of Islam in society is sacrosanct and anti-American sentiment runs high. More than a dozen people had died during the protests.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran said all the instructions were given and the website was accessible across the country after the launch.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd welcomed the news on Monday by posting to its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/PTCL.Official/posts/933536146729668

The country’s Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom had also said in a statement that under the Pakistan-specific version of YouTube, the PTA could ask for access to offending material to be blocked.

“Google has provided an online web process through which requests for blocking access of the offending material can be made by PTA to Google directly and Google/YouTube will accordingly restrict access to the said offending material for users within Pakistan.”

— The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom’s statement

For tech-savvy Pakistani internet users, however, the lifting of the ban has not had much effect, as they had already been accessing YouTube during the ban using proxy servers.

YouTube currently oversees up to 85 country-specific sites around the world to showcase local content, and in some cases to comply with local censorship laws.

According to Google’s most recent transparency report, the company said that YouTube had received more than 12,000 takedown requests from governments during the second half of 2014. The company said it had complied with about half of these demands.

Additional reporting by AP.

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By Natalie Southwick

The taxi app wars are hotting up in Asia.

Last week, mobile cab-calling app Easy Taxi announced it had raised $40 million in a fourth round of funding, allowing it to increase its presence in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The app is currently in use in 162 cities in 32 countries worldwide, the majority of them in Latin America and Asia, and has more than 185,000 drivers in its network. The app, which already has well over 1.5 million downloads, is available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.

Last year saw a major roll-0ut in Southeast Asia in the second half of 2013 as EasyTaxi attempted to get the jump on competing ride-hailing services like Uber and GrabTaxi. In Asia, Easy Taxi is currently operating in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Pakistan.

Easy Taxi, created by Brazilian Tallis Gomes in Rio de Janeiro in 2011, has been one of the most successful taxi-calling apps in emerging market countries, where calling a cab is often an issue of safety rather than pure convenience.

Easy Taxi has announced it intends to use this new funding to expand in these markets, as well as its newest countries in Africa.

“The expertise of our new investors aligns with our ambition to further increase our market share in Asia and consolidate our leadership in Latin America,” said co-CEO Dennis Wang.

The app, launched by Berlin-based incubator Rocket Ventures, has raised $77 million to date.

The timing of this funding is fortunate for Easy Taxi, which is facing unprecedented threats to its market dominance. Unlike in the United States or United Kingdom — where the taxi-hailing market is crowded with apps like Hailo, Uber and Lyft — Latin America and Asia have been slower to develop similar products, though other apps like GrabTaxi (Southeast Asia) and SaferTaxi (South America) have been growing in popularity in the last few years.

The most significant threat to Easy Taxi’s supremacy in these markets comes from U.S.-based ridesharing juggernaut Uber, which has embarked on an ambitious plan to expand into a number of emerging markets. The company, which does not deal exclusively with taxis but rather contracts vehicles and drivers for private transportation, has faced ferocious opposition from taxi drivers, unions and even politicians from London to Bogotá, who say Uber’s structure undercuts business for cab drivers and weakens unions.

Easy Taxi, which does work with registered cab drivers, has not faced the same resistance. However, it may need all the help it can get, as companies like Uber — currently valued at $18.2 billion — and Lyft continue to expand into what had until now been its exclusive territory.

The original version of this article appeared on LatinCorrespondent.com

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