SABA: Fuelling Suppliers for Long-Term Green Aviation Goals

The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) is stepping up efforts to unlock the next generation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), opening a request for proposals to ramp up supply and secure longer-term deals.

This fresh push is all about moving beyond today’s limited options and scaling up fuels that don’t rely on traditional feedstocks like waste oils, which face serious growth limits.

At the heart of the new request for proposals (RFP) is a sharp focus on future-proof SAF. That includes power-to-liquids, synthetic fuels made from captured carbon and renewable electricity, as well as advanced fuels made from agricultural and forestry residues, renewable hydrogen and municipal solid waste.

SABA’s plan is to pool purchasing commitments from its members into one large, aggregated procurement. This will back five- to 10-year supply contracts—long enough to support final investment decisions (FID) for building new production facilities.

"The SAF market is growing rapidly but the technologies we need to fully decarbonise the aviation sector are still in their infancy," says Kim Carnahan, CEO of the Center for Green Market Activation and head of the SABA Secretariat.

"Investment needs to happen now if we want these technologies to scale post-2030 and keep the aviation sector on track to meet its long-term net zero goals."

The RFP is aimed at growing the entire supply chain around advanced SAF.

Long-term procurement deals create the kind of financial stability developers need to secure funding, design new plants and move projects forward. Without this, the risk is that next-gen fuels never reach viable production levels.

Corporate demand powers market certainty

SABA’s membership brings together more than 35 companies across finance, technology, consulting, entertainment and other industries. What unites them is a shared intent to reduce emissions from business air travel – not just by flying less but by putting money into cleaner fuel.

One key tool in their model is the book and claim system, where companies buy SAF certificates (SAFc), which represent the carbon savings from sustainable fuel use.

Even if that fuel doesn’t power their specific flight, they can still claim the emissions reduction for their climate reporting. The physical fuel gets blended into airport fuel supply chains where it's actually needed.

"Book and claim is the bridge between the aviation industry's sustainable fuel ambitions and scalable real-world production – and SABA is helping build it," says Bryan Fisher, Managing Director at RMI and Co-Founder of SABA.

By separating the environmental claim from the physical fuel, the system lets companies fund SAF without worrying about logistics, while still contributing to demand. In turn, this demand signal helps fuel producers justify the upfront capital needed to build production at scale.

It’s a model that’s already drawn substantial investment. Since SABA’s launch in 2021, it has facilitated about US$200m in SAF procurement, starting with a pilot project and followed by a multi-year deal in 2023–2024 involving 27 participants and 50 million gallons of fuel.

Making SAF a serious alternative to fossil jet fuel

Despite the growth of interest in SAF, it still accounts for less than 1% of global aviation fuel. Most of what’s produced today comes from waste oils and fats, which are limited in supply and won’t be able to scale with rising demand beyond 2030.

That’s why this RFP is geared toward feedstocks and technologies that can grow without competing with food systems or relying on land-use change. By investing now, SABA aims to support facilities that can reach FID by 2026 and start production by 2030.

Elizabeth Sturcken, Vice President at Environmental Defense Fund, another SABA Co-Founder, makes the point directly: "This RFP is an opportunity for corporate leaders, forward-looking airlines and next generation fuel producers to work together toward a truly net-zero aviation sector.

"We must be strategic in how we grow the SAF market with environmental integrity so that we can decarbonise the aviation sector without placing new demands on limited feedstocks or land resources that may create new environmental problems."

With this long-term, demand-led approach, SABA is trying to do more than just buy fuel. It is setting up a framework to reshape how aviation emissions are addressed, using procurement as a tool to trigger investment, innovation and production capacity throughout the supply chain.

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