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Committing to 170,000 tCO₂e in SAF: The freight forwarding opportunity

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Freight forwarders are making significant commitments to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Delivering on those commitments requires the right operational infrastructure.

Air freight volumes are rising — and so are emissions. Aviation contributes about 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions with air freight accounting for 15-19% of that total, driven by e-commerce growth and faster supply chains.

Freight forwarders play a central role in the SAF value chain. By connecting carriers and shippers across transport modes, they’re uniquely positioned to support decarbonization at scale. In practice, they do two things at once: aggregate demand for SAF and distribute SAF environmental attributes to shippers — ultimately providing a bridge for fuel consumers (aircraft operators or the forwarders themselves) and end customers.

In 2025, forwarders publicly committed to over 170,000 tCO₂e in SAF, through collaborations with companies like Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, and others.

Bar chart showing over 170,000 tCO₂e in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) commitments by freight forwarders, with AIT Worldwide leading at 66,000 tCO2e.
Over 170,000 tCO₂e in SAF commitments by freight forwarders in 2025 (see reference list below for source details)

As SAF programs like these expand, so does the operational complexity behind them.

SAF management challenges cut across the industry

Scaling SAF programs is not just about procurement. It requires managing environmental attributes end to end — from tracking and distribution to reporting. While these challenges exist across the SAF value chain, freight forwarders feel them acutely because they operate at the intersection of multiple stakeholders.

In practice, forwarders must manage several SAF program complexities simultaneously:

  1. Providing attributes to shippers - acting as a source of Scope 3 emissions reductions for their customers.
  2. Navigating upstream dynamics - working with intricate information from airlines and fuel producers.
  3. Managing emissions measurement - providing shippers with information on the emissions tied to the transportation of their goods.
  4. Ensuring precision and appropriate documentation - tracking, distributing, and providing proper documentation for attributes to enable appropriate scope 3 reduction claims by the freight forwarders and their customers.

Today, many forwarders still rely on spreadsheets to manage SAF environmental attributes purchases, claims, and downstream sales. While this can work at a small scale, it quickly becomes difficult to maintain accuracy, transparency, and efficiency as programs grow.

Navigate the policy landscape as it develops

Freight forwarders are the intermediary between producers, airlines, and end shippers — each group possesses different expectations, and all operate within a rapidly evolving policy landscape.

This creates a set of practical questions both up and downstream:

  • Upstream: Based on the information forwarders receive from their upstream partners, are they able to understand and report on emissions reductions from the producer-mandated SAF supplied under ReFuelEU?
  • Downstream: How do freight forwarders track and provide reports on their shippers’ emissions, and in these, provide shippers with comprehensive visibility into how both mandated and voluntary SAF fits into such reports? How are end shippers’ emissions profiles changing at an air waybill level?

Forwarders are expected to answer these questions — often without complete or consistent information. Given this, robust tracking is a critical part of the solution. It gives forwarders the visibility needed to understand whether specific routes are delivering expected emissions reductions as mandates take effect — and to communicate that clearly to customers.

Manage your SAF program with Chooose

Freight forwarders are at different stages of their decarbonization journey. Some are just getting started. Others are already running SAF programs and starting to hit operational limits.

As programs scale, a few capabilities become essential:

  • Estimate emissions more accurately: Use recognized methodologies to estimate freight emissions — without relying on manual processes that break down at scale.
  • Manage SAF environmental attributes end to end: Track, sell, and report on SAF attributes with the required detail. Maintain centralized visibility into expiry dates, distribution status, and overall inventory.
  • Integrate with SAF registries: Connect directly to registries via the Chooose platform. As registries evolve, workflows stay current without adding manual overhead.

Built from real SAF operations

We developed our software by working directly across the SAF value chain with airlines and fuel suppliers. This work reflects the real operational demands of SAF programs: tracking environmental attributes, managing expiry, providing appropriate documentation, navigating registries, and aligning claims across multiple stakeholders.

Prepping for what comes next

The SAF market is still taking shape. Scope 3 “allocation” rules are emerging, registries are moving toward interoperability, and practices like expiry date management are becoming more defined. For freight forwarders navigating this landscape, these ongoing evolutions require building workflows that are precise enough to meet market expectations, yet flexible enough to adapt as rules and frameworks change.

Chooose brings operational experience from across the SAF ecosystem — understanding what works, what slows programs down, and where issues tend to arise. This allows forwarders to design more robust programs from day one, whether the focus is emissions estimates, SAF attributes distribution, or assurance processes and reporting.

Ready to move your SAF program off spreadsheets?

See how Chooose helps freight forwarders run and scale SAF programs.

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