How Can SAF Help Businesses Decarbonize?

To create strategies that actively combat rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, we have to begin by understanding how emissions are measured and where they come from. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is a global standard for organizations to manage and measure their emissions with the ultimate goal of reducing them. It categorizes GHGs into Scopes 1, 2 and 3, each determined by source or activity.

Common sources of Scope 3 emissions include transportation and distribution, purchased goods and services, end-of-life product disposal and employee travel. Business air travel significantly contributes to an organization’s environmental impact, particularly for large companies with extensive travel requirements. By 2050, air travel could account for 12-27% of global CO₂ emissions and business travel could account for a significant portion (15-20%) of that global air travel estimate. Air travel is undoubtedly one of the most carbon-intensive business activities. It presents a critical opportunity to focus on reducing travel emissions as part of their more extensive decarbonization strategies. 

This is where corporations seeking to address their climate impact can collaborate with airlines and SAF producers. While SAF is currently the only option for combatting travel emissions, it is more expensive than conventional jet fuel due to new technologies it relies on, complex supply chains, and novel feedstocks. As a result, the cost of SAF is much higher than jet fuel, which airlines cannot afford due to narrow profit margins. However, engaging with corporate partners can help open up new opportunities.

Through SAF certificates (SAFc), corporations can make commitments to purchase environmental attributes associated with SAF purchased by an airline. This makes it easier for SAF producers to secure offtake agreements and to accelerate production. Therefore, when businesses with extensive corporate travel or logistics are interested in exploring solutions to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, SAFcs can be an attractive solution for them. Simply put, this is a way for them to “buy into” the benefits of SAF and show they’re working to address their Scope 3 emissions without having to actually purchase the physical fuel. Simultaneously, this “buy-in” provides SAF producers with the certainty needed to secure funding for projects and to scale production.

While some governments (via policy and incentives), investors and the general public urge corporations to address their emissions, strategies to combat emissions from air travel have been very limited until recently. Previously, options to reduce emissions from air travel relied only on carbon offsets and reducing travel; now, SAF has emerged as a critical player. However, even though SAF has the potential to drastically reduce aviation emissions, the SAF market is still in its early stages of development. Due to the challenges around cost, supply and demand are uncertain for the interested parties. This ultimately stymies SAF production capacity and delays project deployment. 

But there’s good news: as we mentioned above, through SAFc, corporations can leverage their purchasing power to influence stakeholders across their supply chains; and they can play a catalytic role in accelerating SAF adoption. Corporations can also play a vital role in advocating for policy support and robust voluntary market development, collaborating with airlines and logistics providers, and directly investing in SAF technologies. Industry-wide SAF adoption is crucial for maximum environmental impact, and businesses that rely on corporate and freight air travel can lean on SAF as a key decarbonization solution. There is enormous potential with SAF as it can drive deep emissions reductions and ultimately pave the way for a more resilient and sustainable energy system.