SAF Expert Insights with Andre de Fontaine, GMA / SABA Secretariat Team
Andre de Fontaine
Senior Director
-
GMA / SABA Secretariat Team
Book-and-claim systems are unlocking corporate demand for SAF, and in this interview GMA’s André de Fontaine explains how. From SABA’s role in aggregating buyers to new tools like SAFc Connect, market-based strategies are accelerating adoption, improving integrity, and scaling impact of SAF. Read the full interview to learn more.
The Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) is helping to pioneer the use of book-and-claim systems to accelerate the adoption of low-carbon fuels like SAF. Can you explain how these systems work and why they’re so important to scaling the market?
While SAF represents our best near-term path to lowering aviation emissions, there are significant barriers to overcome in order to jumpstart this market and increase the amount of SAF going into airplanes. Plenty of corporate buyers are interested in purchasing SAF to take responsibility for the emissions associated with their air travel and air freight, but they need a way to channel that investment while SAF production and geographic availability is still limited.
Book and claim systems are part of the solution to resolve current market disconnects between willing buyers and SAF suppliers seeking reliable offtake. When applying a book and claim system to SAF, its low emission attributes are separated from the physical fuel and captured in a Sustainable Aviation Fuel certificate (SAFc). These certificates are documented and tracked within a registry and available for purchase by sustainability buyers, allowing them to address their aviation emissions even when the flight they are taking is not fueled by SAF. SAFc suppliers benefit from a new revenue stream that encourages future production and airlines purchasing the physical SAF are able to claim progress toward their net zero goals as well.
Book and claim systems, when coupled with a buyers alliance like SABA that combines demand from multiple corporate buyers, have a catalytic effect on SAF markets, helping SAF become available in greater volumes, in more locations, and at lower prices.
GMA serves as the Secretariat for the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) and is now supporting similar initiatives in the maritime and trucking sectors. What are the biggest lessons learned from working with corporate SAF buyers, and how can the industry take these lessons forward?
The most important lesson GMA has taken from our work with SABA and the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) is that these systems are highly effective in engaging market participants, aggregating demand, and channeling investment that helps encourage future production. Sustainability buyers want to participate in proven, high-integrity systems like SABA that produce environmental attributes that count toward their greenhouse gas reduction targets. We’re also applying a lot of what we’ve learned to our active pilot RFP for zero emission trucking attributes through GMA Trucking, and to the system design for our emerging cement & concrete and chemicals programs.
We are finding consistent takeaways across all of these sector programs. First, it is critical to engage and align with stakeholders early in the program design process. This helps ensure broad buy-in and mitigates the risk of bumping up against competing systems that will confuse the market and delay progress. Second, environmental integrity is paramount. The systems we create must drive credible, accountable emission reductions – otherwise they fail in their mission to address climate change and violate the trust of our corporate partners. Third, it is important to be flexible over time. These markets are nascent and rapidly evolving and require regular tactical review to ensure our efforts maintain their impact.
What barriers remain for large companies looking to purchase or claim SAF through Book & Claim mechanisms?
Many companies we work with through GMA have been looking to standards and guidance bodies like SBTi and GHG Protocol for reassurance that their voluntary investments in environmental attributes such as sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc), which rely on a book and claim system, will count toward their Scope 3 greenhouse gas reduction targets. The latest draft revision of SBTi’s Corporate Net Zero Standard released in March sent a promising signal that they will. Among other updates, SBTi said they intend for “indirect mitigation” relevant to a company’s value chain and achieved through energy or commodity certificates to count towards a company’s targets under SBTi. Notably, indirect procurement of SAF was specifically called out as an example of what would qualify as an appropriate indirect mitigation measure.
While the SBTi draft was a positive development, there is more work to do in refining and clarifying the ground rules that dictate how mechanisms like book and claim can be used. We’re continuing to engage with SBTi through their feedback channels and are also looking to the work of the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation Platform as they establish guidance that will help give companies the confidence to sign long term offtake agreements and allow suppliers to invest in new production facilities.
How does SABA coordinate between airlines, corporates, and fuel producers to drive alignment?
Part of SABA’s success is grounded in our role as a convener. The current landscape for companies looking to decarbonize their value chains - including emissions associated with air travel and air freight - is fragmented and difficult to navigate alone. We bring together corporate buyers to not only aggregate demand, but also to network, educate and align on common standards and best practices. Through our procurements, we then help connect those buyers with well-vetted suppliers (consisting of both fuel producers and airlines) who need customers willing to pay the so-called “green premium” for what is still a relatively expensive commodity compared to traditional jet fuel. More broadly, we are working across stakeholder groups to align on book and claim system design and drive toward standardization, transparency, and integrity in the sustainable aviation fuels markets. An example of that can be found in our recently updated SABA Sustainability Framework that is designed to guarantee credible emission reductions associated with any SAFc procurements facilitated through SABA, as well as the growing SAFc Registry, which allows for the credible tracking and claiming of those emission reductions.
Government funding and incentives play a major role in SAF development, but they can be unpredictable. How does GMA work to create a reliable demand signal through voluntary corporate investment, regardless of shifting political landscapes?
While our overall buyers alliance/demand aggregation approach remains consistent, the case for our work as a non-partisan nonprofit has become even more crucial as a result of the shifting political tides, especially in the United States. We believe that market-based programs are an important way to continue channeling investment into solutions that address heavy transport and industrial emissions. We continue to engage across corporates, fuel producers, airlines, standards setting bodies, and others to increase confidence and participation and help accelerate voluntary action through our initiatives.
The primary drivers of demand for our programs remain the voluntary greenhouse gas reduction targets set by companies, which have shown to be independent from the ebb and flow of political parties. Things like tax incentives are obviously helpful, but we find the voluntary demand component to be most important to our work maintaining and building the SAF market.
Looking ahead, what are GMA’s top priorities over the next five years in supporting decarbonization across aviation?
Across our work with SABA and other heavy transport and industrial sectors we want to continue catalyzing green markets and lowering barriers to market entry for buyers.
Corporates have told us that they want choices on when, what, and how much SAF they buy – so through SABA we’re setting up two procurement streams in 2025 in direct response. First, the SAFc Connect database, slated to launch May 2025, will allow fuel providers to submit SAF offers at any time for review by SABA members through a secure online platform - helping support near-term SAFc purchases and increase SAFc market liquidity. Next, our 5 to 10-year “next-gen” procurement is setting its sights high, with a process designed to aggregate demand to support capital investment in an early-stage, next-generation SAF production facility. Projects and impact of this scale are what a buyers alliance model can achieve as it matures and continues to grow its membership and engagement.
There is also opportunity to continue standardizing and refining market infrastructure, such as the SAFc Registry and SABA Sustainability Framework, to continually reinforce the transparency and accountability that supports greater market participation. As we are able to attract more SABA members, we hope to accelerate SAF production to levels that will make it more cost competitive and help aviation more quickly transition away from fossil fuels – we invite both interested buyers and suppliers to join us!