The global representative body for the air transport sector, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has announced that the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Registry that it has developed (and will soon launch) will be managed by a new organisation that it has established. This is the Civil Aviation Decarbonisation Organisation (CADO).

Use of SAF instead of conventional jet fuel could cut aviation carbon emissions by up to 80%. IATA’s SAF Registry will be a global system for the transparent and standardised recording of SAF transactions. This will ensure that SAF’s environmental benefits can be tracked across its value chain, enabling airlines and corporate customers to claim against both compulsory obligations and voluntary schemes. It will also connect airlines with SAF producers and suppliers, all across the world.

“CADO will turbocharge the imminent launch of the IATA-developed SAF Registry,” highlighted IATA senior VP sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “Its mandate is to manage the SAF Registry as a separate entity from IATA with an open and global approach that supports the scrutiny needed to build trust among all stakeholders. In fact, the door is open for any stakeholder in the SAF value chain, including governments, to join CADO. This inclusive approach should also be a force for the harmonisation of the principles on which all SAF registries operate.”

Incorporated in Canada as a not-for-profit organisation, CADO is based in Montreal, Quebec province. IATA is the founding member of CADO and will provide continuing technical and operational support. Membership of CADO is open to any organisation working in, or directly contributing to, the SAF value chain, as well as to associations or other groups of organisations in the SAF value chain. Membership is also open to State and quasi-State entities directly interested in the operations and benefits of the registry.

“The SAF Registry is a critical piece of market infrastructure that is indispensable in building a global, transparent, and liquid global market for SAF,” pointed out IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “The industry’s commitment to build the registry and establish CADO to manage it should inspire governments, fossil fuel producers, and investors to engage in the SAF market with commensurate vigour. Ramping-up SAF production is the common goal and the structure we are putting in place with CADO is an important step in moving decarbonisation forward.”