The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will set up a “Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Matchmaker” to connect airlines with SAF suppliers. The association, which is the global representative body for the airline industry, is currently holding its World Sustainability Symposium, in Miami, in the US state of Florida.

“Our vision is to create a transparent, efficient, and accessible matchmaking platform that will accelerate the uptake of SAF as the aviation industry progresses towards net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050,” explained IATA senior VP sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “The platform will do that by reducing the costs and complications that airlines face when looking for SAF suppliers.”

The SAF Matchmaker is intended to deal with three essential SAF issues – connectivity, visibility and efficiency.

The connectivity issue will be addressed by giving SAF producers and suppliers a platform on which they can post their available or planned SAF volumes. Airlines will then be able to register their desire to buy the available or planned SAF volumes. The actual SAF trades will not happen on the platform, but be conducted externally to it.

Visibility will be ensured because the Matchmaker will display comprehensive information, such as available SAF volumes, the feedstocks used in their production, the production technology used, and the location of the SAF. It will also show the associated emissions reduction data and compliance with the global Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (better known as CORSIA) and/or the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive.

Efficiency will be increased through the creation of a central platform, which will make it easier and faster for all the relevant parties to connect with each other, thereby simplifying SAF purchases by airlines. The platform will also make the collection of market intelligence easier, because of the data that it will generate.

“The SAF market’s maturity and globalisation will be enhanced by the transparency that the SAF Matchmaker will enable,” she highlights. “Every step in that direction is of great importance, considering that SAF is air transportation’s most significant decarbonisation tool.”

To start with, the SAF Matchmaker will be focused on airlines and SAF suppliers. But, later, non-aviation corporate SAF buyers and governments will also be able to join it.