Neste, DHL Group and the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification or ISCC have joined forces to pioneer and test a system through which airlines, logistics service providers and end customers can credibly report the emission reduction achieved by using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to reduce their carbon footprint from air travel and transport.

As part of this collaboration the companies piloted the ISCC Credit Transfer System, where SAF use and related sustainability benefits, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, can be tracked and transferred via a registry operated by ISCC.

This newly developed system ensures that companies purchasing SAF and airlines using the fuel are able to credibly and transparently claim emissions reductions and use them towards their climate targets, whilst reducing the risk of incorrect sustainability claims and double counting of SAF volumes and their GHG emission reductions.

“ISCC has developed the ISCC Credit Transfer System as a natural continuation of our established and globally used supply chain certification systems. With the ISCC Credit Transfer System, we provide a solution for traceable and credible Scope 1 and 3 emission reduction claims related to SAF use,” said Prof. Dr. Gernot Klepper, Chairman of the ISCC Association.

Neste tested the system with DHL Group earlier this year, and as part of the trials, the world’s largest supplier of SAF utilized one of its ISCC EU certified deliveries to the group’s European Air Transport Leipzig unit (EAT) and registered the environmental attributes, such as the emission reductions achieved, as “credits” in the ISCC registry.

This enabled EAT, the airline using the SAF, to claim a reduction in its own direct emissions (Scope 1)*, and the corresponding Scope 1 credit was retired on behalf of EAT ensuring the credit cannot be used again. Meanwhile, the Scope 3 credit for the achieved reduction in indirect emissions was transferred to DHL Group’s account in the registry.

DHL Group was then able to credibly verify the emission savings achieved in the customers’ value chain Scope 3 emissions and the corresponding SAF credit was subsequently retired.

Neste said the system is designed to align with the requirements set by the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) aviation guidance for SAF use in addressing organizations’ value chain (Scope 3) emissions.

Following the successful testing, the system is now ready for public consultation and can afterwards be used by all companies that want to ensure credible and transparent reporting of emission reductions from the use of SAF.

ISCC, an independent, multistakeholder-driven non-profit organization with a long history in supply chain certification.