World Energy and Microsoft Join Forces to Drive Aviation Decarbonization Through Ten-year Contract for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificates (SAFc)
BOSTON, October 3, 2023 – Today World Energy, the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer and low-carbon solutions provider, announced a long-term agreement with Microsoft to accelerate the decarbonization of corporate air travel and its supply chain cargo through the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc).
This agreement highlights World Energy’s ability to enable companies from all sectors of the economy to participate in decarbonizing the hard-to-abate aviation sector. The agreement connects Microsoft’s ambitious decarbonization goals directly and verifiably with SAF via a Book & Claim tracking framework.
Spanning ten years, this is the longest SAFc Book & Claim agreement ever signed. It is expected to deliver significant decarbonization results. An estimated 43.7 million gallons of petroleum jet fuel will be displaced with low-carbon SAF. The emissions reduction is expected to exceed 469,000 metric tonnes of CO2. That is the equivalent of flying 824,053 economy class passengers from Seattle to New York and back on fully decarbonized flights, or decarbonizing the transportation of over 54,000 metric tons of cargo between Asia and North America.*
The length and size of this commitment will help accelerate the emergence of the aviation decarbonization industry by helping it reach profitable operation at scale.
“We’re thrilled to be launching this long-term collaboration with Microsoft,” said Gene Gebolys, CEO of World Energy. “Through this agreement, we will empower one of the world’s most recognized innovators to grow their business while minimizing their carbon impact and together we’re committing to making a sustained push well into the next decade to decarbonize aviation at ever greater scale. Microsoft has made some of the most ambitious decarbonization commitments of any corporate leader and we are honored to be teaming up to help them meet those goals.”
“This agreement exemplifies the power of collaboration and technology in driving meaningful change in one of the hardest-to-abate sectors,” said Katie Ross, director, carbon reduction strategy & market development, Microsoft. “Not only will it help to reduce our business travel and supply chain logistics emissions, but we hope this agreement will inspire others to take action and support the transition to alternative fuels that will enable a decarbonized aviation industry.”
This agreement will also help establish broader trust in digital monitoring and verification for SAFc. With SAFc, the fuel’s environmental attributes are separated from the fuel itself and are purchased by a partner as part of their decarbonization program. The physical production and use of the SAF is tied specifically to the certificates, independently accredited, transparently tracked, and third-party verified using a digital chain of custody system referred to as “Book & Claim.” This enables both airlines and corporate leaders, such as Microsoft, to support the decarbonization benefits of SAF without having to take delivery of physical fuel.
Additionally, SAFc delivered via Book & Claim helps to minimize both logistic costs and emissions because the fuel can be used near where it is produced rather than being shipped around the world. All product will achieve the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) certification, widely recognized as the most rigorous standard in the industry. This supply will be produced at World Energy’s facility in Paramount, CA, the world’s first commercial scale SAF production plant, where the company is now making a multi-billion-dollar investment to expand scale and drive innovation.
SAF is made from non-petroleum based renewable feedstocks such as fats, greases, oils, yard waste, other municipal solid waste, woody biomass and other feedstocks. Currently, SAF is blended with conventional Jet A fuel at a level up to 50%, reducing aviation emissions by up to 80%.
* Estimated using the Global Logistics Emissions Council Framework and ISO:14083 approved IATA RP 1678 emissions factors.