The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and 123Carbon have announced a strategic collaboration to develop interoperability between their respective Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) registries. This partnership aims to enhance transparency, prevent emissions reporting errors—such as double issuance—and streamline certificate management across SAF registries.
Key Focus Areas of the Collaboration
The cooperation between IATA and 123Carbon will center on three critical components:
- Establishing a unique identifier and aligning relevant data points to facilitate seamless data exchange between registries.
- Implementing a robust process to prevent potential double issuance of SAF certificates.
- Developing a dispute resolution framework to ensure accountability and trust.
“User trust is essential. The transparency that comes with interoperability will ensure that our registries function cohesively, maximizing SAF’s potential to support aviation’s decarbonization efforts. The broader the alignment among registry providers, the better. We encourage all entities in this field to collaborate with IATA and 123Carbon towards global interoperability between all registries,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Chief Economist.
Jeroen van Heiningen, Managing Director of 123Carbon, echoed this sentiment, stating, “123Carbon is committed to ensuring integrity and trust in the Environmental Attribute Certificate (EAC) market across multi-modal transportation, including air, sea, road, and rail. Partnering with IATA, a key player in aviation sustainability, enables us to provide SAF providers, airlines, freight forwarders, and corporate entities with a secure and efficient platform for managing SAF certificates, eliminating the risk of double issuance.”
Expanding Collaboration Across SAF Stakeholders
IATA and 123Carbon plan to engage with additional SAF stakeholders to further enhance interoperability between registries and broaden industry-wide adoption of standardized SAF certification processes.
The IATA SAF Registry is set to launch in April 2025, facilitating the widespread use of SAF in aviation’s decarbonization. The registry aims to standardize the market for SAF certificates, ensuring that each batch of SAF is accurately recorded with relevant product and environmental attributes. In preparation for this launch, IATA has also released the IATA SAF Accounting and Reporting Methodology.
With support from over 50 organizations—including airlines, fuel producers, and government authorities—IATA is actively consulting with key SAF stakeholders, including 123Carbon, to ensure a seamless and effective registry framework.
123Carbon: A Leading SAF Certificate Management Platform
123Carbon is the first independent platform for carbon certificate management across all transport modes, with over 50 global users. The platform serves fuel suppliers, fleet operators, forwarders, and cargo owners in the issuance, management, and transfer of Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) across diverse technologies, including SAF.
