Buying sustainable aviation gas (SAF) simply obtained just a little simpler, because of the discharge of a web based platform that permits consumers to shortly evaluate worth and different attributes of various fuels.
Fuels derived from waste cooking oil and different sustainable sources are on the coronary heart of the aviation business’s efforts to decarbonize, however buying SAF is nothing like reserving a flight. Consumers, working individually or via the Sustainable Aviation Consumers Alliance (SABA), usually start by asking SAF suppliers to submit proposals for vetting.
“These are pretty time-consuming efforts,” mentioned Andre de Fontaine, a managing director on the Middle for Inexperienced Market Activation, one of many non-profits that runs SABA. “They take someplace between 18 and 24 months to run.”
Members solely
The alliance has moved to streamline the method with right now’s launch of SAFc Join, a platform containing data on carbon depth, pricing, feedstock and different attributes of SAF certificates for fuels pre-vetted by SABA. The platform is open to alliance members, which embrace Amazon, Deloitte, Netflix amongst 32 different corporations.
“As an alternative of operating an RFP yearly each time they need to purchase SAF certificates, they’ll now go right into a managed database assured that the gas has been vetted for high quality standards,” mentioned de Fontaine.
A minimum of 5 SAF suppliers — Alaska Air, Future Power World, Worldwide Airways Group, Targray and Valero — might be a part of SAFc Join at launch. SABA expects as much as double that quantity to return on board in coming months.
E book and declare
The scheme operates on a book-and-claim foundation, which means that consumers can use the certificates to offset Scope 3 aviation emissions with out really flying planes that burn SAF. This method, additionally being utilized in maritime delivery and for rail freight, permits consumers to assist sellers even when they can’t instantly entry the low-carbon transport on supply.
Though de Fontaine wouldn’t disclose doubtless costs, he famous that SABA’s final RFP produced certificates with costs within the vary of $350 to $400 per metric ton of carbon dioxide. An economy-class spherical journey from New York to London creates round 0.6 tons of CO2, in keeping with the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group.
SABA has labored with company consumers to combination demand for over $400 million in SAF certificates since launching in 2021 and expects members utilizing SAFc Hook up with have speedy demand for round $30 million in certificates.
The alliance additionally lately launched an RFP for next-generation sustainable fuels, together with “e-fuels,” which may be synthesized from CO2 and water in a response powered by renewable vitality. The transfer comes as some environmental teams proceed to query the sustainability of fuels created from crops, a category of SAF that’s anticipated to play an vital position within the short-term progress of the market.
