Washington – September 22, 2026 -- The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) has secured long-term purchase commitments from AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google and McKinsey to back Infinium Energy's Project Atlas, a Texas facility designed to produce up to 100,000 metric tons of high-integrity sustainable aviation fuel annually.
Buyers lock in offtake to unlock project financing
The agreements cover sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) tied to Infinium's eSAF output, giving the developer the structured, multi-year demand needed to reach final investment decision. Infinium submitted its winning proposal jointly with American Airlines, which will take physical delivery of the fuel and manage logistics.
Contracted volumes target over 212,000 mtCO2e in abatement
SABA estimates the deal will support greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to more than 3,500 JFK-to-LAX commercial flights. The transaction marks the first application of SABA's procurement model built specifically to push new, high-integrity SAF production toward commercial scale rather than existing supply.
Book-and-claim structure separates fuel delivery from emissions credit
Under the arrangement, corporate buyers purchase SAFc while American Airlines serves as physical offtaker, facilitating allocation of Scope 3 emission reductions to participating SABA members. Infinium plans to sell additional RFNBO-compliant eSAF from the facility into European regulatory markets, using waste CO2 and renewable energy to produce drop-in fuel compatible with existing aircraft.
SABA has aggregated $500 million in SAF demand since inception
The alliance, a joint initiative of Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Green Market Activation and RMI, has now pooled purchase commitments from more than 35 member companies. Aviation accounts for roughly 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and SAF supply remains constrained and priced at a premium to conventional jet fuel.
McKinsey's Global Director of Environmental Sustainability, Isabelle Schuhmann, said the purchase helps advance a scalable decarbonization solution while still enabling client-facing travel. Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle said the commitments reflect investor conviction that decarbonizing aviation requires direct investment in next-generation supply.
Next SABA procurement round already in planning
SABA said additional procurement opportunities are underway, allowing more corporate buyers to apply SAFc toward climate targets. Recent guidance from the Science Based Targets initiative has recognized book-and-claim environmental attribute certificates like SAFc as a legitimate mechanism for addressing hard-to-abate value chain emissions.