SAF certificates vs carbon credits for business travel

“Should we buy SAF certificates or carbon credits for our flights?” is the wrong way to put the choice, although it is how most companies first ask it. The two instruments sit in different places in your climate accounts, are judged by different rules, and cost very different amounts per tonne.

This article compares SAF and carbon offsets on what matters for a purchase decision: what each one claims, how SBTi V2 and CSRD treat it, what it costs, and when each one fits.

The short answer. Use SAF certificates to reduce the emissions of flights you cannot avoid, reported separately next to your Scope 3 business travel figure. Use carbon credits for the residual emissions you do not address with SAF. Combining both from one footprint is usually the strongest and most defensible plan.

Reduction vs compensation

A SAF certificate records the environmental attributes of sustainable aviation fuel delivered into the aviation fuel system, through book and claim. Under the RSB Book & Claim Manual (version 4.2, effective since 3 December 2025), one unit equals one tonne of neat certified SAF, and companies can claim it against Scope 3 Category 6 (business travel) or Categories 4 and 9 (freight), up to their own air travel and air freight footprint for the year. It is a reduction inside the sector you buy from.

A carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2e reduced, avoided or removed by a project outside your value chain, such as a cookstove programme, reforestation or direct air capture. It does not change the emissions of your flights; it finances climate action elsewhere. That is why carbon credits address residual emissions rather than reduce your own.

Both instruments are reported next to your emissions inventory, not subtracted from it. RSB’s June 2026 guidance says to disclose SAF-supported reductions separately, and SBTi V2 says the same for carbon credits. The difference is what you may say about them: a SAF certificate supports a reduction claim for aviation emissions, a carbon credit supports a contribution or financing claim.

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How SBTi V2 and CSRD treat each

SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0

SBTi published version 2.0 of its Corporate Net-Zero Standard on 11 June 2026. It can be used for validation from 1 February 2027 and becomes mandatory for new submissions from 1 February 2028.

SAF certificates. V2.0 does not name SAF, but it explicitly covers “commodity certificates that rely on different chain-of-custody models (such as mass balance or book-and-claim)”. They are reported separately and count as interim measures in an implementation hierarchy: companies first act at activity level (fewer or different flights) and may use sector-level instruments where structural constraints apply. Integrity criteria include volume matching, so certificates cannot exceed the related activity, and retirement in transparent registries. SBTi has not yet recognised specific registries or frameworks.

Carbon credits. V2.0 is explicit that supported mitigation outcomes “shall not be counted toward target scope 1, scope 2, or scope 3 implementation” (C43.1). Credits come on top of reductions. From 2035, Category A companies must also support carbon removals for part of their ongoing emissions. Our SBTi V2 overview covers that requirement.

CSRD and ESRS E1

Since the Omnibus simplification of March 2026, the CSRD applies to companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million turnover, and the revised ESRS apply from financial year 2027 (European Commission, July 2026).

ESRS E1 follows the GHG Protocol for Scope 3, and EFRAG’s draft says the gross reduction targets may not include “GHG removals, carbon credits or avoided emissions”. The standard does not mention SAF certificates or book and claim. A defensible approach, until guidance exists, is to keep gross Scope 3 Category 6 unchanged, report the SAF purchase as a decarbonisation action with its expected reduction, and report carbon credits in their own disclosure. Our guide on how to report SAF certificates in Scope 3 shows the disclosure line by line. The GHG Protocol is revising its rules on market instruments, with a draft expected in 2027 and a final standard in late 2028 (GHG Protocol, July 2026).

Cost per tonne side by side

Prices vary by pathway, project type, certification, vintage and volume; treat the ranges as indications and ask for a quote. Our articles on SAF certificate prices and carbon removal credit prices go into the detail. For the differences between certificate types, see the best SAF certificates to buy in 2027.

Per tonne, SAF certificates cost more than most carbon credits. They also buy something carbon credits cannot: a reduction inside aviation, which matters to stakeholders who ask what you do about your own flights.

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When to use which

SAF certificates fit when:

• flights are a material part of your footprint and stakeholders ask about them

• you have, or will have, a science-based target that includes business travel

• you want to support the market for lower-carbon fuel inside aviation

• you can live with a higher price per tonne for a reduction you can report as such

Carbon credits fit when:

• you address residual emissions across all scopes, not only aviation

• you want to finance removals ahead of the SBTi V2 requirement from 2035

• your budget per tonne is limited and you prefer to cover a larger share

• you want to make a contribution claim, worded carefully under the EU rules on carbon neutral claims and contribution claims

Neither instrument replaces flying less. Under SBTi V2, sector-level instruments come after action at activity level, so a travel policy that cuts unnecessary trips is the first step in any plan.

Combining both: SAF for reduction, credits for residual emissions

The two instruments work best from one footprint. Start with your flight emissions for the year, decide the share you reduce with SAF, and cover the remainder, or a defined part of it, with carbon credits. Because SAF claims are capped at your flight footprint and credits address what remains, sizing both from the same number prevents double claims. How many SAF certificates do I need walks through the SAF side of that calculation.

An example with hypothetical numbers: a company with 800 tCO2e of flight emissions buys SAF certificates for 10% (80 tCO2e) and high-quality carbon credits for the remaining 720 tCO2e. It reports gross Category 6 emissions of 800 tCO2e, a separate SAF-supported reduction of 80 tCO2e, and a separate disclosure of 720 tonnes of credits financed. Each number has its own document: a SAF retirement statement and credit retirements in a public registry.

Tip from Bernard de Wit, Co-founder of Regreener: “Split your flight footprint before you buy anything: the share you reduce with SAF, the share you cover with carbon credits, and what you leave open. When SAF comes from one supplier and credits from another without that split, you run the risk of claiming the same tonnes twice, and that overlap is one of the first things an auditor looks for.”

The quality of the credits matters as much as the SAF pathway. Our guide to assessing carbon credit quality explains what to check, and how many carbon credits do I need shows how to size the residual volume year by year. For the SAF side, see how to buy SAF certificates.

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One plan, one partner

Most suppliers sell one of the two instruments. We compare the main routes in 5 partners to source SAF certificates from in 2027. Regreener combines them: we source SAF certificates supplier-agnostically from recognised certification schemes and registries, and carbon credits that pass our 100+ datapoint quality framework, sized from one footprint and documented for your auditor. If you want a plan that covers both, talk to a SAF specialist.