Blueprints for Bankability

The document outlines five key strategies to make Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) projects more investable, focusing on risk-sharing through corporate commitments, the use of take-or-pay contracts to attract lenders, and the implementation of robust 'Book and Claim' systems for tracking Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs). It emphasizes the need for cashflow stability for both physical fuel and EACs, and argues that projects delivering higher carbon intensity reductions should be able to capture the value of their innovation through tradability.

• To attract project financing, contracts must provide specific protections for lenders, including policy risk buffers, standardized product requirements, and long-term, take-or-pay offtake structures involving creditworthy counterparties.
• The 'Book and Claim' system, supported by transparent Energy Attribute Certificate (EAC) tracking via platforms such as the SAFc registry and RSB, is essential for providing the cash flow certainty required by investors.
• Project bankability can be improved through corporate risk-sharing, the creation of stable contracted cashflows for both physical fuel and EACs, and a system of tradability that rewards projects achieving greater carbon intensity reductions.

APA

Chen, A., Dougherty, C., Ehirim, C., Mendelsohn, S., Shams, A., & Singh, H. (2025). Blueprints for Bankability. RMI. https://rmi.org/resources/blueprints-for-bankability-2/

Chicago

Chen, Andrew, Claire Dougherty, Chiudo Ehirim, Sarah Mendelsohn, Aamir Shams, and Hartej Singh. Blueprints for Bankability. RMI, 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/blueprints-for-bankability-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chen |first1=Andrew |last2=Dougherty |first2=Claire |last3=Ehirim |first3=Chiudo |last4=Mendelsohn |first4=Sarah |last5=Shams |first5=Aamir |last6=Singh |first6=Hartej |title=Blueprints for Bankability |publisher=RMI |date=24 October 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/blueprints-for-bankability-2/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chen2025blueprints, author = {Chen, Andrew and Dougherty, Claire and Ehirim, Chiudo and Mendelsohn, Sarah and Shams, Aamir and Singh, Hartej}, title = {{Blueprints for Bankability}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/blueprints-for-bankability-2/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }