The unique book-and-claim digital platform Avelia is moving to a multi-supplier model, which is causing a major change in the sustainable aviation sector.  In order to accelerate the decarbonisation of air travel and scale the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Shell Aviation, Accenture, and American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) developed this evolution.  Avelia’s increased capabilities give investors and decision-makers in the carbon-free aviation industry a more reliable and approachable route to reaching emission reduction goals.

Since its launch in 2022, Avelia has been instrumental in allowing companies to access the greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits of SAF, even when the fuel isn’t physically available at their specific airport. This “book-and-claim” method ensures that the environmental benefits of SAF are tracked and allocated securely. The platform has already seen considerable success, with 57 corporations and airlines joining and over 900 retirements executed by the end of March. This has led to over 33 million gallons of SAF being injected into the global fuel network across 17 airports in Europe, Asia, and North America, abating more than 300,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions—a significant step forward for sustainable aviation.

Most significantly, Avelia’s business plan changed from permitting Shell to be the sole supplier of SAF to permitting several vendors. This change, which was made because of customer feedback, will let airlines, businesses, and goods forwarders manage SAF from different providers on the same platform. This makes carbon reporting and reduction more complete and effective by making it easier to handle SAF purchases and the environmental benefits that come with them. Shell Aviation President Raman Ojha said that this change was very important. He said, “Avelia’s evolution from a single-supplier platform to a multi-supplier industry solution is a powerful demonstration of how collaboration, technology, and innovation can accelerate the scaling of SAF.”

Avelia is also launching a “Bring Your Own SAF (BYOS)” model. This new feature will let airlines add SAF bought outside of Shell’s supply network directly to the Avelia platform. This is especially useful because it lets you keep track of SAF digitally, which would have been hard to do otherwise. The goal of this move is to give book-and-claim solutions more credibility across the board, which will speed up the adoption of SAF by giving everyone a single, clear tracking system. Investors who want clear, verifiable information about emissions reductions need this level of openness.

To protect the platform’s integrity and get more people in the industry involved, Avelia is also setting up a multilateral governance structure. This will let more than one party get involved and make the platform’s operating procedures more clear. Additionally, Accenture will host and manage all of Avelia’s data on its own, acting as the company’s strategic advisor and technology partner. This makes sure that SAF information can be accessed and shared safely, reliably, and with outside verification. It also gives customers clear control and protects data compartmentalisation. Accenture’s Global Travel and Aviation Sustainability Lead, Dr. Jesko-Philipp Neuenburg, stressed this point, saying it “builds the secure, scalable foundation needed for a flexible industry platform.”

The growing list of participants on the Avelia platform, including major players like Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Google, and Rolls-Royce, underscores its increasing relevance and impact. These collaborations showcase a collective industry effort to address aviation’s carbon footprint. Evan Konwiser, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Amex GBT, stressed the importance of tackling Scope 3 emissions, which represent a significant portion of many companies’ carbon footprints. He affirmed Amex GBT’s commitment to leading decarbonization efforts with their customers through Avelia, stating, “Together we can accelerate its scale and increase customer access to its environmental benefits.”

The fact that Avelia is being developed as an independently controlled, multi-supplier platform represents a major de-risking of SAF investments for investors. It provides a more secure and transparent way of tracking environmental attributes, which is essential in ensuring sustainability claims are supported and legal requirements are met. Increased investment in the SAF market, due to its broader coverage and improved credibility, will certainly drive additional technological innovation and economies of production scale, hastening the aviation industry’s transition to complete decarbonization. Better-informed investment decision-making in this key sector is possible by enabling the tracing of SAF from different sources and providing assurance of data integrity.