Private-sector buyers drive SAF growth through strategic purchases

Watershed, the enterprise sustainability platform, announced Nov. 18 that it has facilitated the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) on behalf of customers including BlackRock, Ripple, Samsara and Block.

The purchases, coordinated with the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance, will add high-integrity sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) directly to Alaska Airlines passenger flights, and the SAFc will be applied to the companies’ corporate footprints to compensate for business-travel emissions.

This investment supports the production and use of SAF, an emerging climate technology for air travel.

The purchases are part of SABA’s largest-ever collection of deals announced in April—commitments expected to result in $200 million of SAFc worth roughly 50 million gallons of SAF, or 500,000 metric tons of abated CO2e over the next five years.

Watershed is an aggregator partner of SABA, which accelerates investment in, and adoption of, sustainable aviation fuel.

With this purchase, Watershed customers including BlackRock, Ripple, Samsara and Block are participants in SABA.

“We see collective engagement in the SAF market as a compelling demand signal,” said Claire Kiely, the head of Watershed Marketplace Carbon Supply. “Watershed consolidates our customers’ demand for high-impact, low-carbon technology like sustainable aviation fuel, then works with SAF suppliers, airlines and experts through SABA to meet that demand and grow an essential new sector. By participating in this historic investment, Watershed customers are providing a powerful demand signal for SAF and affirming the role SAFc will play in corporate emissions reduction initiatives.”

Diana Birkett Rakow, Alaska Airlines’ senior vice president of public affairs and sustainability, added, “Alaska Airlines is all in on advancing the market for SAF, a critical element in the path to decarbonize aviation. We are one of the founding members of SABA’s aviators group because we know that we will only reach our destination if we’re tackling this challenge from all angles—business, policy, financing and more. Investing in SAF alongside partners like Watershed, BlackRock, Ripple, Samsara and Block helps us scale up use and provides critical demand signals for the market. We’re grateful for their leadership and partnership and look forward to even more collaboration as they join SABA.”

Kim Carnahan, the head of SABA’s secretariat and CEO of the Center for Green Market Activation, said, “Aggregator partners like Watershed play a pivotal role in helping accelerate the growth of green-commodity markets. By consolidating demand among its customers, Watershed is helping SABA send a larger demand signal to the SAF market while enabling us to welcome a new set of leading corporations. SAFc purchases from BlackRock, Ripple, Samsara and Block further our efforts to decarbonize the future of flight.”

Ken Weber, Ripple’s vice president of social impact and sustainability, said, “Ripple remains committed to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy, and joining the push for sustainable aviation fuel is an important step in our journey to net-zero carbon by 2030. We’re thrilled to work with SABA, Watershed and alongside other leading organizations to help advance the most promising, scalable climate-positive energy solutions. We see sustainable aviation fuel as a key pathway toward decarbonizing air travel, a vital global industry, and through collaboration with Watershed and SABA we are not only supporting the growth of SAF, but also empowering other companies to take similar meaningful steps in reducing their emissions footprint.”

SAF purchased through the SABA transaction will achieve on average an 80 percent reduction in carbon intensity relative to conventional jet fuel.

While the industry is growing rapidly, SAF still makes up less than 0.5 percent of global jet-fuel supply and today sells at a premium compared to fossil jet fuel.

To scale and meet its full potential, the nascent SAF sector needs both market support—through strong corporate demand and investment—and robust infrastructure.

SABA’s book-and-claim model is designed to set up intentional, high-integrity market infrastructure for the long term.

In addition to pooling corporate demand for SAF purchasing, SABA has put in place tracking, registry and reporting mechanisms that validate SAF as a CO2-reduction commodity.