Global SAF industry gets a boost as IATA registry goes live
April 3, 2025
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched its Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) registry under the management of the Civil Aviation Decarbonization Organization (CADO).
Designed to accelerate the aviation industry’s transition to net zero emissions by 2050, the registry will help drive a global market for SAF.
“Aviation’s decarbonisation is a team effort,” said Marie Ownes Thomsen, IATA’s senior vice president sustainability and chief economist, as she explained that the release of the SAF registry to CADO will benefit all stakeholders.
“It ensures 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. The Registry will record the environment attributes of SAF purchases in an immutable way, safeguarding against double counting.”
She also noted that airlines, their customers and other stakeholders including fuel producers and regulatory bodies will be able to track and account for SAF transactions in a standardised global system.
Acknowledging that the registry is one step in the pathway to decarbonising aviation, Thomsen also warned that the registry “cannot produce miracles on its own, but without it, no miracles can be produced.”
She called on governments to actively back the expansion of renewable energy, reallocating their direct support from fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives. “The precedent of the wind and solar energy markets is the example to follow, and this without any further delay,” she emphasised.
What is the SAF Registry?
Described by IATA as a global system to record SAF transactions in a standardised and transparent way the SAF Registry was designed in collaboration with airlines, authorities, OEMs, fuel producers and corporate travel management companies. Technology and feedstock neutral, it ensures the environmental benefits for SAF can be tracked as they move across the SAF value chain and enable the claiming of these against regulatory obligations and voluntary schemes by airlines and corporate customers.
By connecting airlines with SAF producers and suppliers no matter where they are located, the registry addresses the challenge of limited SAF supply. It also gives airlines’ corporate customers access to in-sector emissions reductions and ensures compatibility with other registries to support competition and open markets.
Participation in the SAF Registry will be free until April 2027 with more than 30 users, including Airbus, Boeing and various airlines across the globe already in the process of onboarding the system.
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