The Carbon Accounting Gap in Clean Fuels

When people think about decarbonising aviation, they often picture big breakthroughs — futuristic aircraft, hydrogen propulsion, or fully electric flights.

Those innovations matter, but there’s a quieter, more immediate shift happening: the growing use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and low-carbon liquid fuels (LCLFs). These fuels can cut lifecycle emissions significantly compared to conventional jet fuel, and they’re already being blended into flights today.

The challenge? Proving it.

Behind every litre of SAF or LCLF is a complex story:

• Where did the feedstock come from?

• How was it processed?

• What emissions were created along the way?

• Who can claim the carbon benefit, and when?

Right now, these stories are often fragmented across spreadsheets, email chains, and inconsistent systems. If we can’t track these details with precision, we can’t confidently measure the climate impact — and that undermines trust in the entire market.

For SAF and LCLFs to scale, carbon accounting has to catch up. We need systems that can handle the messy realities of global supply chains while still delivering clear, verifiable data.

That’s the part of the climate tech space I’ve been diving into lately. Not the shiny end product in the headlines, but the infrastructure underneath - the rules, data, and trust that make climate claims credible.

It’s not glamorous work. But if we get it right, it could be the difference between a market that scales responsibly and one that stalls out in mistrust.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more about the work I’ve been doing in this space and some ideas for how we can close that carbon accounting gap. It’s a problem that needs more attention, and I’m excited to explore it further here.