The Practicalities of SAF Certificates (SAFc)

A full-day, in-person workshop for organisations looking to buy SAF certificates. Sustainable Aviation Fuel certificates (SAFc) are now a recognised way for organisations to reduce business travel and air freight emissions. For many sustainability teams, the question is shifting from “why” to “how.”

This workshop will give you the technical grounding to buy SAF certificates that are sustainable and cost-effective, and report the reductions with confidence. Led by Isobel Campbell, the content draws on her experience building Air New Zealand's SAF Scope 3 programme for corporate customers from first pilot transactions, through to sign-off by an international auditor and recognition by Toitū.

1. What you are buying: understand how SAF is produced, how SAF moves from producer to aircraft, what a certificate represents, and the mechanics of book and claim.
2. Quantifying the emissions reductions: Understand what is included in a SAF lifecycle value, calculate the reduction correctly, and avoid the common mistakes.
3. Selecting sustainable SAF certificates with confidence: recognise a high-integrity certificate and know the risks to avoid.
4. Paying a fair price: know what a SAFc should cost and where to buy it.
5. Contracting, reporting and claiming to pass an audit: ensure contracts, reporting and public claims meet best practice and satisfy your auditor.

See below for the full, detailed agenda.

• Purchasing due diligence checklist: What questions to ask potential SAFc suppliers before committing to a purchase, including sustainability credentials.
• Auditor checklist: what to discuss with your auditor before making a purchase
• SAFc calculation tool: Convert between SAF volumes and emissions reductions with ease
• Personalised follow-up call: A 30-minute one-on-one call with Isobel after the workshop, to review your business case or work through whatever comes up as you get started
• SBTi update call: An exclusive update session once SBTi releases its new SAFc aviation guidance (expected Q4 2026)

Sustainability, procurement, and travel professionals at organisations considering SAF certificates for business travel or air freight. You should be comfortable with the basics of greenhouse gas accounting. No prior SAF knowledge is required.

If you're not sure, get in touch via email (isobel@joulec.com), and we can talk through whether this workshop is right fit for you.

21 October, 8.30am – 4pm, Auckland, Venue TBC. Full day, in person, lunch included.

Can't attend this date or prefer a different location? Email Isobel (isobel@joulec.com) to request a location or go on the waitlist for future events.
 

• Early bird (until 11.59pm, 7 October): $390 + GST
• Standard (until 18 October): $475 + GST
• Late registration (from 19 October): $545 + GST
• Register 3+ people and save 20%

The pricing variance between SAF certificate options can be more than $500 NZD per tCO2e. Knowing what a fair price looks like before you buy covers the workshop cost within the first tCO2e you purchase.

Isobel Campbell is the Founder and Principal Advisor at Joulec Energy and Carbon Consulting, an independent advisory firm focused on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and Scope 3 certificates (SAFc). She works with organisations across the aviation value chain, from corporates looking to address their business travel emissions, to airlines scaling SAF use.

Before establishing Joulec, Isobel built and led Air New Zealand’s SAF Scope 3 programme. This included completing New Zealand’s first SAFc transactions with Mainfreight, Forsyth Barr, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, and Kiwibank, developing a fully traceable and audited SAF accounting system, and securing recognition of Air New Zealand’s SAFc under Toitū’s Climate Impact Programme.

She holds a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University as a Fulbright Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science Advanced (Honours) in Chemistry from Monash University. She has also consulted for the World Bank on eco-industrial parks, collaborated with Pratt & Whitney to assess emerging SAF pathways, and worked in deep tech commercialisation across New Zealand’s public and private sectors.

1. What you are buying

• SAF basics: drop-in fuel, blending limits, and the main production pathways and feedstocks
• Where each production pathway is at, including scale-up trajectory
• SAF traceability models, including book and claim, mass balance, and how they compare with renewable electricity certificates in Scope 2

2. Quantifying the emissions reductions

• How SAF reductions are calculated, with a worked example
• Lifecycle emissions values, including actual vs default, CORSIA vs GREET, and treatment of potential land use change
• Different boundaries, including well-to-wake vs tank-to-wake
• Fossil fuel baselines, and where radiative forcing fits
• Avoided emissions, and why they matter for SBTi targets
• How airlines report SAF, and treat it in emissions factors

3. Selecting sustainable SAF certificates with confidence

• Feedstock sustainability: waste and residues vs primary crops, what to avoid, and how CORSIA, the EU, and best practice international buyers groups (such as SABA) make evaluations
• SAF certification schemes and registries: what they do, and whether your choice matters
• Integrity risks: double issuance, double use, double claiming, traceability, and supply chain fraud
• Additionality: how mandates, incentives, and the NZ ETS impact additionality, and how it compares with carbon credit rules

4. Paying a fair price

• What drives SAF and SAFc prices, and why they vary by region
• Pricing mechanisms, hidden costs, and comparing offers on cost per tCO2e
• Where to buy and how to secure a competitive price, including volume, vintage, buyer groups, and linking to travel contracts

5. Contracting, reporting and claiming to pass an audit

• What to check in a contract and who retires the certificates
• Temporal alignment: matching certificate timing to your reporting needs
• What to discuss with your auditor before you make a purchase
• Reporting options for corporates, including system boundaries, and net and dual accounting, with examples from organisations such as Microsoft
• Where SBTi, Toitū and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol are at on SAFc