The SAF certificate price is the question every finance team asks first, and the one with the least public data. Fuel prices are published; certificate prices mostly are not. What you can find are a handful of indicators from buyers’ groups, vendors and regulators, each measuring something slightly different.
This article puts those indicators side by side, explains why two quotes for “SAF” can differ by a factor of three, and shows how to turn a range into a budget line.
The short answer. Expect indicative prices of roughly $150 to $500 per tonne of CO2e for SAF certificates in 2026, with waste-oil HEFA at the lower end. Prices vary by pathway, certification, vintage and volume, so use the range for planning and a quote for decisions.
Why SAF certificates are priced per tonne of CO2, not per litre
The fuel itself trades per tonne. A certificate is priced on what it lets you claim: the emissions avoided compared with fossil jet fuel. Two certificates for the same tonne of fuel can carry very different reductions.
ICAO’s default life cycle values (November 2025) show the spread. Against a fossil baseline of 89 gCO2e/MJ, HEFA from used cooking oil comes in at 13.9 gCO2e/MJ, about 84% lower. Fischer-Tropsch fuel from forestry residues reaches about 91%. Alcohol-to-jet from US corn ethanol saves only about 19%.
In tonnes: one tonne of used-cooking-oil SAF avoids about 3.3 tCO2e, one tonne of residue-based Fischer-Tropsch fuel about 3.5 tCO2e. A price per tonne of CO2e makes those offers comparable; a price per tonne of fuel hides the difference. Always ask a supplier to state both.
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What drives the price of a SAF certificate
Five factors explain most of the gap between two quotes.
1. Pathway and feedstock
The production route sets the cost floor. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency put the 2025 reference price of fossil jet fuel at €640 per tonne and of aviation biofuels, in practice HEFA, at €1,925 per tonne, about three times as much (EASA, February 2026). For synthetic e-SAF, EASA estimates a production cost of about €7,520 per tonne, a cost estimate for first plants rather than a traded price. ICAO’s rules of thumb model the abatement cost of HEFA from fats and oils at about $130 per tCO2e and of power-to-liquid at about $1,390. We compare five certificate types side by side in the best SAF certificates to buy in 2027.
2. Certification tier
RSB and ISCC certify SAF for both the EU and CORSIA markets, but the bars differ. EU rules require at least 65% greenhouse gas savings for biofuels from installations that started in 2021 or later and at least 70% for synthetic fuels, under the Renewable Energy Directive. CORSIA requires at least 10% below its 89 gCO2e/MJ baseline. A certificate backed by fuel that only just meets the CORSIA bar delivers fewer tonnes per euro, and is harder to defend.
3. Additionality and mandate overlap
Since 2025, fuel suppliers at EU airports must blend at least 2% SAF under ReFuelEU Aviation, rising to 6% in 2030. Some suppliers state that the SAF behind their certificates is on top of those obligations. Neste says the volumes in its corporate offer are not counted under any fuel mandate, and Lufthansa Group sells a fully additional, non-subsidised tier next to a subsidised one. Additional volumes usually cost more, and they are easier to explain to stakeholders.
4. Vintage and delivery period
Certificates relate to fuel delivered in a specific period, and they expire. SkyNRG, for example, states its claims are valid for two years from physical supply. A certificate that matches your reporting year is worth more to you than an older one you cannot use.
5. Volume and contract length
Small pilots carry fixed costs for structuring and retirement; large volumes spread them. Multi-year agreements let you fix a price, which matters because the premium over fossil fuel moves. S&P Global reported that the European SAF premium fell from about $1,463 to $1,139 per tonne between 27 February and 11 March 2026 as jet fuel prices spiked (S&P Global, March 2026). Traders such as STX offer both small pilot transactions and multi-year price agreements. Our overview of 5 partners to source SAF certificates from shows how each route handles volume and contract length.
Indicative SAF certificate price ranges
The table collects the public indicators we could verify. None of them is a spot price for voluntary certificates; read the “what it measures” column before using a number.
Source | Figure | What it measures | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
“the $150s to over $400 per tonne of CO2 abated”, HEFA at the low end | Vendor estimate, no source given | July 2026 | |
SABA buyers’ tender, via Trellis | $300 to $500 per tonne of CO2 | Prices realised in an aggregated corporate tender | May 2025 |
$300 per tonne CO2 average willingness to pay | Survey of 23 first-mover companies, not a traded price | September 2024 | |
EASA reference prices, our calculation | about €390 per tCO2e | 2025 HEFA premium over fossil jet (€1,285/t) divided by 3.3 tCO2e; excludes registry and intermediary costs | 2025 prices |
S&P Global Platts launched a European SAF cost-of-abatement assessment in dollars per tCO2e in May 2026 and Argus publishes related indexes, but their price levels are only available to subscribers.
SAF certificate prices vary by pathway, certification, vintage and volume. Treat these figures as a planning range and check them against a current quote before you commit budget.
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SAF certificates vs carbon credit prices
At first sight SAF certificates look expensive next to carbon credits. MSCI put the 12-month average for reduction credits at around $3.6 per tonne and the minimum average for long-lived removals at around $130 per tonne in July 2026.
The comparison is less direct than it looks, because the instruments do different jobs. A SAF certificate is a reduction within the aviation sector, reported next to your business travel emissions. A carbon credit finances a reduction or removal elsewhere and is used for residual emissions. Durable carbon removals, which SBTi V2 asks Category A companies to support from 2035, sit in a similar price band; our overview of carbon removal credit prices shows the ranges per method.
We go into the choice between the two in SAF certificates vs carbon credits for business travel. For most companies the answer is a combination: SAF for the share of flight emissions you want to reduce, carbon credits for what remains.
Tip from Bernard de Wit, Co-founder of Regreener: “Never compare SAF offers per tonne of fuel. Ask each supplier for three numbers: the price per tonne of fuel, the price per tonne of CO2e and the life cycle value that connects them. Offers that look far apart per tonne of fuel can end up close together per tonne of CO2e, and the other way round. The tonne of CO2e is what you report, so that is the price that counts.”
How to budget for SAF certificates
A budget for SAF certificates is a simple multiplication; the inputs are where the work is.
Flight emissions in scope. Take your business travel and air freight footprint for the year. It is also the ceiling for your claim under RSB rules, as we explain in how to report SAF certificates in Scope 3.
Share you address with SAF. Start with a share you can defend and fund, for example 5% or 10% as a pilot.
Price per tCO2e. Use a range for planning and replace it with a quote.
Example: 800 tCO2e of flight emissions | 5% (40 t) | 10% (80 t) | 20% (160 t) |
|---|---|---|---|
At $150 per tCO2e | $6,000 | $12,000 | $24,000 |
At $300 per tCO2e | $12,000 | $24,000 | $48,000 |
At $500 per tCO2e | $20,000 | $40,000 | $80,000 |
The figures are hypothetical and only illustrate the method. For the volume side, see how many SAF certificates do I need. If you are setting the wider climate budget for next year, our guide to a carbon credit budget for 2027 uses the same approach for credits, and why carbon credit quotes differ explains how to compare offers line by line.
Two budgeting habits help. Keep SAF and carbon credits as separate lines, because they are reported separately. And plan more than one year: under ReFuelEU the minimum SAF share in the EU rises to 20% in 2035, which will shape supply and price for corporate buyers too.
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Turn the range into a quote
Price ranges are useful until the budget meeting. After that, the question is what your volume costs, from which pathway, delivered in which year, retired in which registry. Regreener works supplier-agnostically for SAF: we source per client from recognised certification schemes and registries, compare offers per tonne of CO2e, and combine SAF with carbon credits that pass our 100+ datapoint quality framework. For the purchase process itself, read how to buy SAF certificates, or ask us for a SAF quote for your volume.
