CADO, 123Carbon, Assure collaborate on interoperability pilot between SAF registries

The Civil Aviation Decarbonization Organization, 123Carbon and Assure SAF Registry have agreed to collaborate to implement interoperability between their respective sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) registries.

The focus of the collaboration is to exchange verified SAF-attribute integrity information among the registries, which is critical for the wider adoption of SAF globally.  

“Ensuring the integrity of SAF registries is essential for the market to scale,” said Michael Schneider, the executive director of CADO. “Through this collaboration and pilot, the CADO SAF Registry and partners are putting in place the shared checks and standards needed to eliminate any risk of double counting and to maintain a single, trusted record of SAF emissions reduction claims. This will promote harmonization and standardization and increase transparency, all necessary in any market creation and all sorely lacking at the current junction. The prevailing fragmentation and bespoke nature of the SAF market are preventing rapid deployment and slowing airlines’ decarbonization. We are thrilled to partner with 123Carbon and 4Air in the interest of promoting a mature and global SAF market.”

Jeroen van Heiningen, the managing director of 123Carbon, added, “As a multimodal registry with over 150 users, 123Carbon is committed to not only providing integrity and trust, but also support efficient market transactions. The big advantage of this collaboration is that it provides an open technology-based ecosystem between peers, without adding an extra governance layer. This pilot is only the first step in providing additional trust by avoiding double issuance of certificates. Since every registry has its own stakeholder group, the market expects us to collaborate. This means that deeper levels of interoperability are needed to support the market, by allowing transfers of certificates between registries.”

Jessica Masters, 4AIR’s SAF director, said, “Trustworthy SAF attribute tracking and defensible voluntary and regulatory claims depend on strong integrity controls across the entire ecosystem. Through 4AIR and the Assure registry, we focus on reinforcing that cornerstone via data transparency and validation. This interoperability pilot puts shared safeguards in place to substantiate SAF attributes across registries, identify duplication risks early and preserve the credibility of SAF claims as the market expands and evolves.”

This collaboration aims to safeguard SAF-attribute integrity by ensuring that SAF attributes representing the same emissions reduction are not registered, transferred or retired more than once, thereby minimizing the risk of double issuance and double counting.

By combining complementary market coverage, interoperability supports stakeholders across varied operational environments through a common integrity framework. 

This will be tested in a pilot project over the first half of 2026.

The pilot’s focus is on ensuring that the three systems align regarding key data requirements, shared terminology and standardized interfaces, allowing them to exchange and reconcile SAF-attribute information in a secure, confidential manner.  

Interoperability of the participating registries will be managed by a committee with representatives from all participating registries.

This structure will facilitate the inclusion of other registries meeting agreed integrity standards.