IATA, 123Carbon to collaborate on interoperability for SAF registries

The International Air Transport Association and 123Carbon announced a strategic collaboration Feb. 13 to develop interoperability between their respective sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) registries.

Interoperability will increase transparency, avoid emissions-reporting errors—including double issuance—and streamline certificate management across SAF registries.

The collaboration between IATA and 123Carbon will focus on three key elements:

• A unique identifier and alignment of the relevant data points to exchange between registries.

• A process for the exchange of information to avoid any potential double issuance.

• A dispute-resolution process. 

“User trust is essential,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s senior vice president of sustainability and chief economist. “The transparency that comes with interoperability will ensure that our registries can function cohesively to maximize SAF’s potential to support aviation’s decarbonization. The broader the alignment among registry providers, the better. We welcome all entities active in this field to work with IATA and 123Carbon towards global interoperability between all registries.”

Jeroen van Heiningen, 123Carbon’s managing director, added, “123Carbon is committed to establishing integrity and trust in the market for Environmental Attribute Certificates within multimodal transportation—for example, air, sea, road and rail. With IATA, we have found a strong partner in the aviation sector that shares our beliefs. This collaboration allows SAF providers, airlines, freight forwarders and corporate entities to utilize our platforms without the concern of double issuance, whilst managing their SAF certificates digitally on our platform.”

IATA and 123Carbon will seek engagement with other SAF stakeholders to join this initiative to deepen the interaction between registries.

The IATA SAF Registry will launch in April with the aim to facilitate the broadest possible use of SAF in aviation’s decarbonization by standardizing the market for SAF certificates.

SAF certificates are issued after a batch of SAF is registered and contain product and environmental-attribute information.

As part of its preparation for the registry’s launch, IATA recently released the IATA SAF accounting and reporting methodology. 

The development of the IATA SAF Registry is supported by over 50 organizations, including airlines, fuel producers and state authorities.

In developing the IATA SAF Registry, IATA is also consulting with a broad range of SAF stakeholders, including 123Carbon.

With over 50 global users, 123Carbon is the first independent platform for carbon insetting across all transport modes.

It supports fuel suppliers, fleet operators, forwarders and cargo owners in the issuance, management and transfer of EACs across all modalities and all technologies, including SAF.

Next to the central registry, 123Carbon also offers a private book-and-claim solution that SAF suppliers and airlines can use to allocate company-branded SAF certificates to their customers in a private environment.

This is also regarded as a critical instrument for forwarders that operate across different transport modes and are seeking a single solution to allocate their environmental benefits.