IATA enhances CO2 connect with sustainable aviation fuel accounting

MUMBAI: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently announced that it has enhanced its IATA CO2 Connect emissions calculator to account for carbon emissions reductions related to the usage of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Initially, CO2 Connect will apply equal per-passenger emission reductions across an airline’s network, meaning that all flights will benefit from an equal (percentage) reduction based on total SAF purchases. In future enhancements, the ability to allocate per-passenger SAF emission reductions to specific routes will be added, said IATA.

“Corporations and individual travellers want to clearly understand how sustainable their flying is. And, particularly if they invested in SAF, they want to know what impact it is having. By enhancing CO2 Connect with the IATA SAF Accounting and Reporting Methodology, we are providing the transparency and accuracy that individuals and corporates demand,” said Frederic Leger, IATA’s Senior Vice President Commercial Products and Services.

IATA CO2 Connect uses real operational data, such as aircraft type-specific fuel consumption, directly contributed by airlines. This approach contrasts with other calculators that primarily rely on modelled averages. With the recent inclusion of Air India, Air Astana, Air Europa, Amelia, Clic Air, Corsair, Hi Fly, Oman Air, Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas, and Royal Air Maroc, some 60 airlines are now contributing data to CO2 Connect. With each new airline participant, the accuracy and transparency of IATA CO2 Connect’s calculations improve—for individual travellers and corporates.

“With the strong support of all our participating airlines and the new ability to accurately account for SAF in the calculation, IATA CO2 Connect is going from strength to strength. It is a powerful tool to support aviation’s decarbonisation powered by global standard methodologies and high-quality data,” said Leger.

The development follows the recent publication of the IATA SAF Accounting & Reporting Methodology, which helps airlines and industry stakeholders accurately report SAF-related emissions reductions and sets the accounting foundation baseline in the upcoming IATA SAF registry. It also provides guidance to reflect SAF emissions reduction in per-passenger and per-shipment emissions calculations.

Developed in collaboration with more than 40 airline experts worldwide, the methodology is designed to complement existing international frameworks and to reinforce consistency without duplicating efforts, according to IATA. The IATA methodology fully intends to serve as a reference for both regulatory and voluntary environmental initiatives, it said.

SAF has been identified as the biggest lever in decarbonizing aviation. As airlines scale up SAF, the need for the aviation industry to demonstrate clearly and transparently the emissions reduction from SAF use becomes more eminent, said IATA. "Clarity in a global and robust SAF accounting framework is essential for SAF deployment and its commercial viability. A robust, feedstock-agnostic, and technology-neutral methodology, irrespective of chain-of-custody used, is critical to avoid double-counting and uphold environmental claims’ integrity," it added. A robust and global SAF accounting framework can also help to deploy SAF most efficiently while widening market access of SAF irrespective of its uplift locations, said IATA.

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