Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) represents aviation’s primary near-term decarbonization pathway, with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions 50–85% lower than conventional fossil jet fuel depending on feedstock and production pathway. However, a fundamental operational challenge has limited SAF adoption by climate-conscious corporate travelers and freight customers: SAF produced at one location cannot be physically co-mingled with Jet-A fuel in an aircraft tank and guaranteed to power a specific flight. The book-and-claim accounting system resolves this logistical mismatch by separating the physical SAF commodity from its associated environmental attributes—enabling companies anywhere in the world to claim SAF’s lifecycle emission reductions regardless of where the SAF was actually produced or consumed.
SAF Lifecycle Emissions and CORSIA Pathways
SAF is produced from a variety of feedstocks and conversion technologies, each with distinct lifecycle carbon intensities certified against petroleum jet fuel (89.1 gCO₂e/MJ). ICAO CORSIA Eligible Fuels list (2024) includes: HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids) from waste oils and fats achieving 50–80% lifecycle CO₂ reduction; Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ) from ethanol or isobutanol achieving 40–75% reduction; Fischer-Tropsch (FT-SPK) from municipal solid waste or agricultural residues achieving 60–85% reduction; and Power-to-Liquid (PtL) e-fuels from green hydrogen and captured CO₂ achieving up to 95% reduction in long-term scenarios. Under ICAO CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation), airlines must demonstrate SAF lifecycle values below CORSIA’s 10% below baseline threshold for fuels to qualify for emission reduction credits.
Book-and-Claim: How the System Works
Book-and-claim operates through a certificate registry that tracks SAF production, sustainability attributes, and chain of custody separately from physical fuel logistics. When a SAF producer generates certified fuel, they register corresponding SAF certificates in a recognized book-and-claim registry—recording feedstock, production pathway, lifecycle CO₂ reduction percentage, volume, production location, and certification scheme. These certificates are then transferred to airlines, fuel traders, or directly to corporate buyers (shippers, travel managers) who “claim” the SAF’s environmental attributes for their Scope 3 Category 11 (Business Travel) or Category 4 (Upstream Transportation) emission accounting, regardless of whether that SAF physically powered their specific flight.
The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA)—co-founded by Rocky Mountain Institute and Environmental Defense Fund, with members including Amazon, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, and Salesforce—has developed the pioneering corporate book-and-claim framework, enabling companies to purchase SAF certificates directly from producers or aggregators. SABA-compliant purchases require: retirement of SAF certificates covering a specified volume of Jet-A displacement, certification under ICAO CORSIA or equivalent scheme, and disclosure of feedstock, lifecycle CO₂ reduction, production region, and certificate registry transaction ID.
ReFuelEU Aviation: EU Mandatory SAF Blending
ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation (EU) 2023/2405, applicable from 1 January 2025, mandates that aviation fuel suppliers provide minimum SAF blends at EU airports: 2% SAF in 2025 (including 0.7% synthetic SAF minimum), rising to 6% by 2030, 20% by 2035, 34% by 2040, 42% by 2045, and 70% by 2050. Airlines operating from EU airports must use fuels meeting these minimum SAF content requirements, with book-and-claim mechanisms explicitly recognized for demonstrating compliance when physical uplifting constraints prevent on-site SAF procurement.
Corporate SAF Accounting Under GHG Protocol and CSRD
Under GHG Protocol Scope 3, corporate business travel emissions (Category 11) and upstream transportation (Category 4) must include aviation emissions. SAF book-and-claim purchases can reduce reported Scope 3 aviation emissions proportionally to the SAF volume’s lifecycle CO₂ reduction—with the claim supported by certificate retirement documentation and disclosed transparently. CSRD ESRS E1 requires disclosure of Scope 3 material emission sources and reduction strategies; SAF procurement with certificate documentation meets the evidentiary standard for a reduction strategy disclosure. SBTi’s Aviation Sector Guidance (2024 draft) is developing specific Scope 3 Category 11 reduction targets that recognize SAF book-and-claim in validated target pathways.
SAF book-and-claim is rapidly maturing from a voluntary corporate sustainability tool to a regulatory compliance mechanism under ReFuelEU and CORSIA. Companies with high aviation Scope 3 footprints—airlines, logistics providers, travel-intensive industries—face growing pressure from SBTi validation requirements, CSRD ESRS E1 disclosures, and corporate travel procurement sustainability criteria to establish SAF certificate procurement programs. Explore aviation decarbonization investment opportunities and sustainable logistics strategies at our Sustainability Opportunities Hub.
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