American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and Shell Aviation announced a new long-term long-term deal with Google, extending their current agreement to source sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) environmental attribute information through the SAF registry Avelia.
Launched in 2022, the Avelia program utilizes a book-and-claim model, enabling business travelers to pay for SAF and claim the environmental benefits, even if the SAF is not available at their departure airport. The solution was developed by Shell and Accenture, with the support of the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), and includes Amex GBT’s travel management services to aggregate global demand for SAF from its 19,000 global customers.
The new agreement extends Google’s collaboration with the SAF program. Google initially joined the program in 2023.
Vrushali Gaud, Global Director of Climate Operations at Google, said:
“Sustainable aviation fuel represents a critical unlock for decarbonizing the hard-to-abate aviation sector and we recognize the importance of long-term agreements to increase demand and expand its availability. We view this as a key opportunity to support the broader ecosystem through this book and claim effort, while making progress towards reducing our own aviation emissions.”
To date, Avelia has been joined by 66 corporations and airlines, and helped to abate more than 590,000 tonnes of CO2e. Shell, Accenture and Amex GBT announced an expansion of the platform last year, including opening up Avelia from Shell as its sole SAF supplier to a multi-supplier model, allowing users to access the GHG benefits of SAF from multiple suppliers, and to manage SAF from different suppliers within Avelia. The companies also said that they would explore the introduction of a “Bring Your Own SAF” (BYOS) model, which would allow airlines to manage more of their SAF portfolio in Avelia, including SAF that otherwise would have been tracked offline and not on a digital registry.
Raman Ojha, President of Shell Aviation, said:
“Advancing SAF takes collective effort across the entire aviation ecosystem. Google’s extended commitment provides important financial signals for the SAF ecosystem and supports the development and deployment of SAF at large. We’re excited to continue this work with a company that leads with action and ambition.”
