Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

SAF is a non-fossil fuel for use in aircraft. It can be produced from many different sustainably sourced materials called feedstocks, such as used cooking oil, biomass waste and residues, and renewable energy and carbon. These materials can be converted using multiple technology pathways, and lifecycle carbon emission reductions vary by fuel type.

To qualify under international sustainability frameworks, SAF must meet stringent sustainability and lifecycle emissions-reduction criteria, such as those set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) under its Carbon Offsetting & Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) framework.

IATA estimates that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) could contribute up to 65% of the reduction in emissions needed by aviation to reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

Today, most SAF production uses waste- and residue-based feedstocks through the Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway, typically delivering lifecycle emissions reductions of around 80% compared to conventional aviation fuel. Emerging technologies and new feedstocks have the potential to increase lifecycle emissions reductions above 90%, even achieving negative emissions on a lifecycle basis.

In addition to reducing emissions, SAF can strengthen a country’s energy security by diversifying the energy supply and building domestic fuel production from locally available resources. SAF can also support economic growth by driving investment in agriculture, waste management, renewable energy, and advanced fuel technologies, and create new jobs across all these new industries.

SAF is produced worldwide using a range of feedstocks and technologies. Today, 11 SAF production pathways are certified under American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards, allowing SAF to be safely blended with conventional aviation fuel and used in existing aircraft and infrastructure.

These pathways fall into two main categories: bio‑SAF, which is produced from sustainably sourced biomass feedstocks; and e‑SAF (electro‑SAF), also referred to as power‑to‑liquid (PtL) SAF, which is made using renewable electricity, typically by combining green hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide.

For additional information on how SAF is produced, refer to the IATA SAF Handbook and IATA's Global Feedstock Assessment for SAF Production.

SAF can be made from different renewable and waste-based feedstocks. These can range from existing crop species to more novel options such as waste and residues. Which feedstocks to use depends on the geographic location, with different regions more suited to certain types of feedstocks. SAF produced in one part of the world can be entirely different from SAF produced elsewhere, depending on the inputs. Although the origins of SAF may vary across regions, the alignment of fuel with internationally recognized sustainability criteria – such as the ICAO CORSIA framework – means that the resulting fuel will be harmonized in terms of sustainability and technical standards.

Typical SAF feedstock examples include:

• Fats, oils, or grease: these can be sourced from waste, such as used cooking oil and animal fat, or virgin oils produced from a variety of edible and non-edible crops.
• Sugars and starches: these include feedstocks such as sugarcane and corn, as well as more novel sources like agricultural residues and other non-food plant materials.
• Solid biomass such as municipal solid waste (MSW), waste wood, and forestry residues.
• Non-renewable waste or exhaust gases: these are fossil wastes that are no longer suitable for recycling, or waste gases generated by industrial production processes.

The vast majority of SAF produced today is bio‑SAF, primarily using hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology. HEFA converts waste oils and fats, such as used cooking oil or animal fats, into jet fuel through a process similar to conventional oil refining. As the most mature and commercially available pathway, HEFA is currently the most cost‑effective way to produce SAF. However, HEFA is limited by feedstock availability, and new SAF pathways are required to enable decarbonization at scale.

SAF helps reduce aviation carbon emissions by replacing conventional aviation fuel with fuel made from renewable or waste-based sources. SAF produces similar emissions to aircraft exhaust, because fuel is still being combusted. This will be the case until such time that novel aircraft propulsion systems, such as hydrogen, become a reality. SAF’s climate benefit comes from how it is produced using waste, residues, or recycled carbon instead of fossil oil. Thanks to the non-fossil origin of SAF inputs, fossil-derived carbon emissions will be reduced. Depending on the production method and the feedstock, the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions of SAF can range significantly. Most of the current SAF supply comes from waste oils, reducing emissions by around 80% compared with conventional aviation fuel while remaining compatible with existing aircraft and airport infrastructure.

SAF is expected to deliver around 65% of the emissions reductions needed for aviation to reach net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. No other solution currently offers a greater potential impact on aviation’s decarbonization. Importantly, SAF can be used as a drop-in solution on existing aircraft we have today, enabling immediate emissions reductions without changes to aircraft or airport infrastructure.

SAF is considered sustainable because it is produced from renewable or waste-based sources that can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly compared with conventional aviation fuel, while avoiding negative environmental and social impacts.

To ensure environmental integrity, SAF must meet strict sustainability criteria and certification requirements covering feedstock sourcing, land-use change, biodiversity protection, water use, and emissions accounting. International frameworks and certification schemes also require traceability and independent verification throughout the supply chain to ensure that SAF delivers genuine and credible environmental benefits.

SAF can deliver broader benefits beyond reducing aviation emissions by supporting the development of renewable energy industries, creating jobs across fuel supply chains, and strengthening energy security through domestic production and diversification away from fossil fuels.

SAF production can also help promote circular economy solutions by converting waste materials such as used cooking oil, agricultural residues, and municipal waste into valuable energy resources. In addition, investments in SAF technologies and infrastructure can accelerate innovation in low-carbon fuels that may also benefit other hard-to-abate sectors beyond aviation, such as shipping and heavy industry.

Yes. SAF meets the same safety requirements as conventional aviation fuel for use in commercial aircraft. Fuel specifications ensure that both conventional aviation fuel and SAF meet the required chemical and physical standards. Throughout the distribution process, the fuel is regularly tested and monitored to ensure it remains safe, reliable, and fully compliant before being used in aircraft.

SAF has been used in commercial flights for many years, with millions of flight hours completed without safety issues. It is a “drop‑in” fuel, meaning it can be blended with regular jet fuel and used in existing aircraft, engines, and airport fuel systems without requiring any modifications to these.

SAF is more expensive than conventional aviation fuel primarily because it is produced at a much smaller scale and relies on newer, less mature production pathways. Unlike fossil jet fuel, which benefits from decades of large-scale production and established infrastructure, SAF is made from sustainably sourced materials that are often more costly and limited in supply. Converting these materials into SAF requires more complex processes, and many technologies are still in early stages of commercial deployment. This requires significant upfront investment while demand remains limited. 

It is important to note that the price airlines pay for SAF (and for fossil jet fuel), in addition to production costs, includes many administrative add-on costs such as certification, transaction-related costs, and markups throughout the supply chain. 

These add-ons may vary significantly: in 2024, the difference between production costs and market prices (the market premium) for HEFA SAF in Europe reached around 1,000 USD/tonne. Over time, increased production scale, technological advancements, and more developed supply chains could help reduce SAF costs and narrow the price gap with conventional aviation fuel.

 

In 2026, global SAF production is expected to reach approximately 2.4 million tonnes (Mt), accounting for 0.8% of total annual jet fuel consumption. SAF production roughly doubled from 1 Mt in 2024 to 1.9 Mt in 2025, but growth is expected to slow in 2026.

To support the aviation sector’s pathway to net zero emissions by 2050, annual SAF supply will need to expand to around 500 Mt, requiring production to increase by more than 250 times over the coming decades. Achieving this scale-up will depend on unlocking the full potential of sustainable biomass feedstocks and prioritizing their use in sectors such as aviation, where decarbonization alternatives are limited. While the bio-SAF is expected to provide a significant share of future supply, it will have to be complemented by substantial volumes of e-SAF.

Achieving 500 Mt of SAF by 2050 will require coordinated action across the full SAF value chain and a broader energy system transformation. This includes policy frameworks that provide investment certainty, access to sustainable feedstocks and renewable energy, investment in fuel and energy infrastructure, effective technology deployment, and mechanisms to transfer risk across the SAF value chain.

Book-and-Claim (B&C) is a mechanism to account for and track the environmental benefits of SAF thanks to a robust chain of custody. It separates the environmental attributes from the physical SAF. This allows all SAF producers to sell to all airlines in the world, and it allows all airlines to buy SAF from any producer in the world – an instant global market that opens the SAF market to global competition, drives innovation, reduces market fragmentation, and ensures competitive prices. To ensure transparency, avoid double-counting, and link each claim to verified SAF use, these attributes need to be tracked through dedicated registries, such as the CADO SAF Registry. 

Governments play a critical role in scaling SAF, particularly in creating the policy and investment conditions needed to accelerate production, reduce costs, and support market development. Given that SAF production technologies and supply chains are still at very early stages of development, supportive government policies are essential to help bridge the price gap between SAF and conventional aviation fuel and provide long-term certainty for investors and producers.

Key measures may include production incentives, grants, loan guarantees, supportive regulatory frameworks, research and innovation support, and policies that facilitate access to feedstocks and infrastructure.

Governments also play an important role in promoting internationally harmonized sustainability and certification frameworks to support the development of a global SAF market. Governments should also support the development and recognition of global SAF book-and-claim systems, consistent with the purchase-based claiming approach allowed under CORSIA, to help create a more efficient, transparent, and globally connected SAF market.

IATA has developed the Net Zero Policy Roadmaps to support governments in this effort, providing a menu of policy options and practical measures that can help aviation achieve its decarbonization goals, including the scale-up of SAF production and deployment. Governments must also work through international bodies such as ICAO and mechanisms such as CORSIA to help ensure globally harmonized approaches to aviation decarbonization and the scale-up of SAF.

Importantly, governments should also consider policy sequencing as part of the broader energy transition. As highlighted in the IATA Energy Transition and System Transformation publication, effective sequencing of policies and investments is essential to avoid supply bottlenecks, infrastructure mismatches, and unintended market distortions. This includes aligning energy, industrial, transport, and climate policies to ensure that enabling conditions such as renewable energy availability, infrastructure development, technology readiness, workforce capabilities, and financing mechanisms evolve in a coordinated manner. A sequenced and systems-based policy approach can help accelerate SAF deployment while maintaining energy security, affordability, and competitiveness. Any SAF mandates should therefore be introduced only where the necessary market conditions, production capacity, infrastructure readiness, and supportive policy measures are sufficiently in place, in order to avoid unintended economic impacts, supply constraints, or disproportionate cost burdens on the aviation sector and consumers.