NEW TRAINING COURSE
Due Diligence for SAF Projects
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- Dates
- 25 & 26 November 2026
- Format
- Two half-days, around three hours each, with Q&A built into every session
- Covers
- Five modules across investor mandates, SAF pathways, maturity, bankability and a case study workshop
- Trainer
- Stephen B. Harrison, Founder and Managing Director, sbh4 GmbH
Bankability, competitive advantage and maturity
A course on the technical and strategic due diligence of sustainable aviation projects and technologies — and on what investors look for.
- Make your investment origination and screening process more efficient.
- Prepare your project for the rigorous round of due diligence that awaits it.
- Help your development team maximise the impact of their capital raise.
- See a project from the perspective of the other party, whether you are buying or selling.
- Give non-technical advisers an appreciation of the technical and strategic aspects of a deal.
Five modules across two half-days
Day one covers the background, concepts and definitions. Day two puts them into practice.
Background, concepts and definitions
01Investment mandates, lender and investor profiles and their objectives
- Types of due diligence and their role in project finance and investment
- What should an ideal project or technology look like?
- Risk tolerance and expected financial returns
- Matching investment opportunities to investor and lender profiles
- Tempting pitfalls that the sell-side may fall into
- Fatal mistakes that the buy-side may inadvertently make
02Types of SAF, SAF production pathways and their potential
- HEFA — let's eat more chips
- Alcohol to jet — let's drink more beer
- Woody biomass, MSW or RDF gasification
- Biogas / biomethane reforming
- E-SAF from RFNBO hydrogen, CO2 and methanol to jet
- E-SAF from RFNBO hydrogen, CO2, RWGS + FTS
- Hybrid bio-electrofuel SAF, combining gasification and RFNBO hydrogen
Putting theory into practice
03Technical maturity, project maturity and risk mitigation
- TRL, CRL and MRL — maturity and risk of the technology components and business
- The whole may be greater than the sum of the parts: process risk and scale-up risk
- Project risk and project maturity
- Risk mitigation through technical, operational and product mix levers
04SAF production project bankability and due diligence
- The fundamentals of sell-side and buy-side project finance due diligence
- Feedstocks, certified products, process pathways, technology and team
- Maturity, defensibility, competitive advantage and business model
05Getting to work
- SAF-related project case study workshop — delegate cases and / or prepared examples
- End of course review and final Q&A
Bring your own project
The course closes with a case study workshop. Delegates have the opportunity to conduct interactive exercises with the trainer, sharing an overview of their own project using the due diligence checklist below. Prepared examples are used where delegates would rather not share a live case.
Prepare your overview
Summarise your project against the checklist areas most relevant to its stage, from feedstock and technology through to offtake and financing.
Share it with the trainer
Walk through your overview in a structured exercise, alongside other delegates working through their own cases.
Discuss the questions it raises
Explore where further information may be needed and which areas are likely to attract the closest scrutiny.
*Please note that this Masterclass will not represent investment advice, nor confirmation of risk or due diligence.
Ten areas every SAF project is tested on
The workshop works through a structured due diligence checklist in two parts.
Part 1 — technology, location and operations
- Hydrogen / CO2
- MSW / biomass
- Waste oils / fats
- Maturity of contracts
- Market / product requirements
- CO2 intensity / certification
- Willingness to pay green premium
- Maturity of contracts
- Power and water utility requirements
- Process integration and energy efficiency
- Cost competitiveness
- Timeline to COD
- Technical maturity of unit operations
- Total capex
- Maintenance and labour costs
- Emissions to air, land and water
- Regulatory, permitting and community support
- Subsidies
- Local environmental factors
- Feedstock and product logistics
Part 2 — financials, commercials, execution and legal
- Return on capital invested
- Profit margins and cash flow
- Cost pass-through
- Amount of capital to be raised
- Skills, expertise and teamwork
- Timing and track record
- Bandwidth and objectivity
- EPC partners and equipment vendors
- Taxation
- Repatriation of cash and capital
- Local security issues
- Security of trade corridors
- Belief in SAF
- Belief in aviation
- Creditworthiness of offtakers
- Diversity of offtakers
- What are we investing in?
- Legal structure
- Rights to use technology
- Regulatory shift
Stephen B. Harrison
Founder and managing director, sbh4 GmbH
Stephen's work focuses on achieving a net-zero future for industry, shipping and aviation, with SAF, hydrogen, e-fuels and biofuels as the fundamental pillars of his consulting practice.
He supported CINEA in evaluating large-scale SAF, e-methanol, hydrogen and CCS projects for the Innovation Fund in 2023, 2025 and 2026, and has led or supported multiple clean fuels projects for the IFC, EIB and ADB.
Through sbh4 he has extensive buy-side and sell-side M&A due diligence and investment advisory experience in the clean-tech sector, with private equity firms, investment fund managers and green-tech start-ups as regular clients.
His background includes 27 years at BOC Gases, The BOC Group and Linde Gas, 14 of them as a global business leader frequently involved in M&A proposals, projects and post-acquisition integration.
- Two sessions over two days, each lasting approximately three hours.
- All session recordings and any course materials covered during the course.
- An interactive format, including examination of delegate case studies.
- Frequent opportunities for Q&A with the trainer.
- Pre-recorded videos with experienced SAF investors from leading international funds.
- Flexible access on any device.
- A certificate of attendance after full completion of the course.
Join the next edition
Two half-days, 25 & 26 November 2026. Places are limited, and booking is open now.
Discussion during the training will not represent investment advice, nor confirmation of risk or due diligence.