Watershed, the climate solutions platform, has enabled the first-of-its-kind purchase of Sustainable Aviation Fuel certificates (SAFc) by major corporations, including BlackRock, Ripple, Samsara, and Block. These SAFc purchases will feed sustainable aviation fuel into Alaska Airlines passenger flights while allowing participating companies to counterbalance the carbon emissions from business travel by their employees.
Watershed was founded in 2019 and focuses on providing companies with the capacity to aggregate and report sustainability data and invest in decarbonization projects like carbon removal, clean energy, and SAF. As a vital member of SABA, an organization dedicated to promoting SAF adoption, Watershed aggregates corporate demand for sustainable aviation initiatives. SAFc will join other recent buys as part of the company’s largest-ever investment announced in April 2024, committing $200 million in SAFc and its sister products, SAFb. The initiative will fund approximately 50 million gallons of SAF, projected to cut 500,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions over the next five years.
Claire Kiely, head of marketplace carbon supply, Watershed, said, “Collective corporate action promotes the scaling of low-carbon technologies like SAF.”. Watershed consolidates our customers’ demand for high-impact, low-carbon technology like sustainable aviation fuel, then works with SAF suppliers, airlines, and experts through SABA to meet that demand and grow an essential new sector, said Kiely. Such collective engagement would send a strong demand signal to the SAF market, affirming its role in reducing corporate emissions, she added.
SAF is a renewable alternative to traditional jet fuel, manufactured from feedstocks like waste products. Such SAF achieves a reduction of at least 80% in carbon intensity compared to fossil-based jet fuel, and it is compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure. Currently, however, SAF accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the world’s global jet fuel supply and remains pricier compared to its traditional counterpart.
This investment supports Alaska Airlines’ long-term sustainability goals. “That’s one of the things that makes Watershed so appealing – its collaborative approach,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Alaska Airlines. “We know we can only get to our destination if we’re attacking the challenge from every angle: business, policy, finance, and more.”. Rakow underscored the scalability in SAF use, the development of market demand, and the facilitation of the low-carbon aviation sector, which are primarily through corporate partnerships.
Through partnerships with organizations such as Watershed and SABA, companies like BlackRock, Ripple, and Samsara are exercising leadership in corporate sustainability. These investments made contribute critical financial support to the scaling up of SAF production and usage-in one step towards decarbonization of the aviation industry. Moreover, as an aggregator partner, Watershed involvement ensures that corporate efforts are channeled towards high-impact solutions thereby catalyzing progress in one of the most challenging sectors to be decarbonized.
As SAF gains traction through initiatives like this, it marks a significant milestone in sustainable aviation. While the road ahead requires overcoming challenges such as cost and production capacity, collaborative investments signal a promising future for reducing aviation’s environmental impact.