Carbon reduction consultancy Watershed facilitates SAF certificate deals through SABA

Watershed, an international platform which helps some of the world’s biggest corporations to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions, has facilitated the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) by four major companies to help them compensate for emissions created by their corporate air travel. The deals were arranged through the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), for BlackRock, a global investment, advisory and risk management group, and financial and corporate technology companies Ripple, Samsara and Block. The SAF associated with their certificates will be allocated to US carrier Alaska Airlines, a founding member of SABA, while the four companies will be able to claim environmental attributes of the fuel as contributions to their own emission reduction targets.

Watershed measures total carbon emissions across all areas of corporate operations, then consolidates data to provide a detailed account of emissions for reports to shareholders, regulators and other stakeholders.

It also identifies and helps deliver remedial actions, as it has in this case through its partnership with SABA, for which it aggregates corporate demand for SAFc, leading to procurement and delivery of authenticated, high-integrity supplies to airlines.

The four purchases it has just announced, while not specifically quantified, are linked to a collection of deals announced by SABA earlier this year which are expected to attract SAFc commitments valued at $200 million, equating to approximately 50 million gallons of the fuel.

The SAF will be sourced from four fuel suppliers over five years and, fully deployed, is expected to reduce CO2 emissions from aircraft by approximately 500,000 tons.

Claire Kiely, Head of Watershed Marketplace Carbon Supply, said collective purchasing deals such as the four just announced represent “a compelling demand signal” to help increase supplies of SAF.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Alaska Airlines, the end user in the Watershed SAFc deal, is a leading proponent of multiple decarbonisation technologies, including SAF, hydrogen-electric propulsion and all-new aircraft designs.

The carrier’s scale has just increased with approval of its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, which, while it will continue to operate as a separate brand, potentially offers further opportunities to broaden deployment of SAF under the group umbrella, in addition to its own plans for the fuels.

“Alaska Airlines is all-in on advancing the market for sustainable aviation fuels, a critical element in the path to decarbonise aviation,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, the company’s SVP Public Affairs and Sustainability.  

“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.”

BlackRock has highlighted “a massive reallocation of capital” as the low-carbon economy continues to evolve globally with new technologies, changing consumer and investor preferences, and shifts in government policies.

Ripple’s VP Social Impact and Sustainability, Ken Weber, said joining the corporate push to boost SAF use was also an important step for his company in reaching its target of net zero carbon by 2030.

“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,” he said.

Kim Carnahan, Head of SABA’s secretariat and CEO of the Center for Green Market Activation, said aggregator partners such as Watershed were critical 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,” she said.

SABA was founded by the Environmental Defense Fund and Rocky Mountain Institute and is supported by the Center for Green Market Activation. Among SABA’s founding members are corporations including Bank of America, Boeing, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, JP Morgan Chase, McKinsey & Co, Microsoft, Meta, Netflix and Salesforce.

Photo: Alaska Airlines

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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