Finnair has launched a service for corporate customers keen to help reduce aviation emissions and boost the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Available to members of the Finnair for Business program, the new SAF service allows companies to monitor the flight emissions that their business trips generate. They can then buy SAF environmental attributes (the quantified benefits of using sustainable aviation fuel rather than conventional jet fuel) to help lower the carbon footprint of flying.

Using a book-and-claim model, companies can make an associated claim to the environmental benefit their purchased attributes represent. This means the actual emission reduction does not necessarily take place on the flight their employees travel on, as the fuel they purchase is not physically loaded into the aircraft.

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The achieved reduction in greenhouse gas emissions related to sustainable aviation fuel use is verified by a third party, with the company receiving an audited SAF certificate that can be used for its sustainability reporting.

“We want to develop flying in a more sustainable direction and are now taking steps on several different fronts. We believe that the most effective solutions can be found at the system level and require cooperation not only between decision-makers and energy producers, but also between airlines and customers. With the Finnair for Business SAF service, we want to accelerate the adoption of alternative aviation fuel made from renewable raw materials,” said Tuomo Karppinen, Finnair’s Head of Environment.

In 2024, approximately 0.5% of the aviation fuel procured by Finnair was SAF, with the airline planning to grow that number to 1.5% this year.

“The greenhouse gas emissions reduction in sustainable aviation fuel is significant,” said Karppinen. “However, the aviation fuel we use will not be fully renewable for a long time, since SAF is blended with fossil fuels. But the more we use renewable fuel, the greater the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions we will achieve.”

In August this year, it was announced that Finnair had partnered with Finnish tech company Liquid Sun to launch an eSAF production demonstration. Last year, more than 99% of the aviation fuel produced globally was fossil kerosene.