IATA Launches Global SAF Registry to Accelerate Net Zero Transition in Aviation
- IATA’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Registry is now live under CADO, enabling a global SAF market.
- The Registry ensures transparency, prevents double counting, and allows airlines to claim SAF purchases against climate goals.
- Industry progress depends on policy shifts—governments must redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewables.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has officially launched the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Registry under the Civil Aviation Decarbonization Organization (CADO). This critical platform aims to drive the aviation industry toward net zero emissions by 2050.
The SAF Registry creates a verifiable, transparent market for sustainable fuel, ensuring airlines, corporate buyers, and regulators can accurately record and claim SAF transactions.
“Aviation’s decarbonization is a team effort. 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,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Senior Vice President Sustainability and Chief Economist.
The Registry safeguards against double counting by recording environmental attributes of SAF purchases immutably. This step builds the foundation for a transparent and liquid global SAF market.
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However, Thomsen stresses that the Registry alone cannot drive the SAF market forward without policy support.
“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. The precedent of the wind and solar energy markets is the example to follow, and this without any further delay.”
To scale SAF production, governments must shift subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, following the model of wind and solar energy markets. Without immediate action, aviation’s net-zero goals remain out of reach.
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