The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Registry with its release to the Civil Aviation Decarbonization Organization (CADO).
IATA announced that the Registry, now live under CADO management, will enable a global market for SAF, accelerating the transition to net-zero emissions by 2050.
At the end of March, IATA established CADO to oversee the SAF Registry. The new organisation aims to advance decarbonisation efforts in global aviation.
CADO is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in Canada and headquartered in Montreal, with IATA as its founding member, providing technical support and operational assistance. Membership in CADO is open to international organizations and companies in the SAF value chain.
Participation in the SAF Registry will be free until April 2027, after which it will be operated on a cost-recovery basis.
"In releasing the SAF Registry to CADO for launch, we have put in place a critical platform for the benefit of all stakeholders. It ensures that all airlines in the world have access to SAF and that their SAF purchases can be claimed against any climate-related obligations in this domain," it said.
The Registry will also immutably record the environmental attributes of SAF purchases, safeguarding against double counting.
IATA noted that airlines, their corporate customers, fuel producers, regulatory bodies, and all related organizations will be able to record and account for their SAF transactions in a global market — creating a mature, transparent, and liquid global SAF market.
IATA said further progress requires active policy support for the ramping up of all renewable energy production and for SAF within that production.
"Governments must reallocate their direct support given to fossil fuel producers in favor of renewable energy production," said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA's senior vice president of sustainability and chief economist.
The SAF Registry is a global system for recording SAF transactions in a standardized and transparent way. It ensures that SAFs' environmental benefits can be tracked as they move across the SAF value chain and enables airlines and corporate customers to claim these against regulatory obligations and voluntary schemes.
IATA said the Registry helps solve the challenge of limited SAF supply, which is acutely scarce and available in only a few locations globally.
Meanwhile, the SAF Registry is technology and feedstock neutral, favoring the emergence of diverse SAF production streams worldwide. It will be able to accommodate specific regulations while favoring global harmonization. Moreover, interoperability with other registries is an important feature of the Registry, supporting competition and open markets.
IATA noted that the Registry has over 30 early users already in the process of onboarding and ready to use the system.
