Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) Emissions Accounting and Reporting Guidelines

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with RMI and PwC, has developed guidelines to standardize how SAF and SAFc are accounted for and reported. The document proposes a 'book and claim' mechanism that decouples environmental attributes from physical fuel, allowing corporate travellers, airlines, and freight operators to claim emissions reductions. It provides specific calculation methodologies for five 'personas'—SAF suppliers, airlines, corporate travellers, private aircraft operators, and freight stakeholders—aligning with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The guidelines emphasize a well-to-wake (WTW) approach to capture full life cycle emissions and suggest a minimum 60% life cycle CO2e reduction threshold for SAF to substantiate a certificate.

• The current pipeline for SAF production is insufficient to meet 2030 goals, requiring a scale-up by a factor of approximately six to reach production levels of 40-50 megatonnes (Mt).
• A Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) represents the environmental attributes of one metric tonne of neat, unblended SAF and can be unbundled from the physical fuel to enable a 'book and claim' system.
• The guidelines recommend that all users of SAF and SAFc report emissions on a well-to-wake (WTW) basis, combining well-to-tank (WTT) upstream emissions and tank-to-wake (TTW) combustion emissions.
• For biogenic fuels, CO2 emissions from combustion are counted as zero in life cycle assessments, as they are assumed to be balanced by carbon uptake during plant growth.
• The guidelines focus exclusively on Kyoto GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3) because scientific uncertainty remains too high regarding the impact of non-GHG emissions on radiative forcing.
• Corporate travellers are advised to use distance-based calculations for their business travel emissions as it is the most practical approach, although fuel-based methods are more accurate.
• To prevent double counting, when SAF certificates are unbundled from physical fuel, the physical fuel must be sold as conventional jet fuel.

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) Emissions Accounting and Reporting Guidelines. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SAFc_Accounting_Guidelines_2022.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) Emissions Accounting and Reporting Guidelines. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SAFc_Accounting_Guidelines_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) Emissions Accounting and Reporting Guidelines |date=October 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SAFc_Accounting_Guidelines_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022sustainable, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) Emissions Accounting and Reporting Guidelines}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SAFc_Accounting_Guidelines_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }