SABA announces largest group of SAF commitment certificates to date

The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) has announced the largest ever group of commitments to purchase sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc), equating to a total of approximately 50 million gallons of SAF and representing nearly $200 million of investment into the SAF market. Over the last five years, a variety of companies have committed to channel $200 million into purchasing the SAF certificates, equivalent to an estimated 500,000 tones of abated CO2. Almost 20 corporate aviation customers, four fuel providers and three airlines are involved in the multi-year collection of deals, many of which are new to the SAFc market. “This SABA procurement shows the power of prominent global companies demanding high-integrity sustainable aviation fuels,” explained Elizabeth Sturcken, managing director at Environmental Defense Fund, a SABA co-founder. “The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance plays a critical role in helping companies identify and purchase the highest-integrity sustainable aviation fuels to accelerate progress toward net-zero goals”. The multi-year procurement builds on SABA’s pilot procurement last year, which brought together ‘major aviation customers’ tTo purchase SAFc for nearly 850,000 gallons of SAF. The new commitments now benefit from an expanded procurement process which includes multiple airlines and fuel providers, including novel power-to-liquid or e-fuels. Nicholas Flanders, co-founder and CEO of e-fuel producer Twelve, highlighted that “as global demand for aviation and SAF grows, partners like SABA will be increasingly crucial to bring the full range of aviation stakeholders to the table”. SABA co-founders RMI and EDF have also developed the digital SAFc Registry, a central platform in which SAF certificates can be recorded and audited. “The SAFc Registry plays a critical role in the SAF ecosystem by bringing greater consistency and transparency to SAFc transactions, building trust along the SAF value chain,” commented Bryan Fisher, managing director at the clean energy nonprofit RMI.