How SAF accounting determines who receives emissions credit

Andy Navarrete (The ICCT) explains how SAF accounting determines which airlines or travelers can claim SAF-related GHG reductions.

• Main explanation: The piece describes mass-balance accounting (matching blended SAF volume to withdrawals) and book-and-claim accounting (SAF blended at one airport credited to a purchaser at another), and notes development of SAF proof-of-sustainability certificates tracked in registries (e.g., IATA’s SAF Registry announced April 2025). It states that EU and UK SAF blending mandates came into effect at the start of 2025, and that the IATA accounting and reporting methodology (Jan 31, 2025) requires airlines to retire Scope 3 certificates to represent lower per-seat emissions to customers.
• Background and specifics: The article explains Scope 3 certificates allocate SAF GHG reductions to individual travelers or shippers (certificates must be retired by an airline on a passenger’s behalf to claim reduced footprint); corporations buying Scope 3 certificates are the only parties that can claim those reductions. It gives the concrete scale: SAF accounted for 0.3% of global jet fuel production in 2024, and outside EU/UK most SAF use is credited via certificate sales to business customers rather than passengers.