About CADO
The Civil Aviation Decarbonization Organization (CADO) was created in March 2025 to maintain and operate the IATA-developed SAF Registry. It is a not-for-profit organization established under Canadian law with its headquarters in Montreal.
CADO’s mission is to unite stakeholders across the SAF value chain and accelerate the aviation sector’s decarbonization efforts, with the overarching goal of achieving net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.
CADO’s founding member is the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which provides ongoing technical and operational support for the SAF Registry. Membership in CADO is open to international organizations and companies in the SAF value chain, including:
- Organizations directly involved in or contributing to the SAF value chain, or representing associations or groups within the value chain;
- States or quasi-state entities with a vested interest in the SAF Registry’s operations and benefits;
- Other relevant stakeholders indirectly benefiting from SAF deployment in aviation.
CADO is structured to ensure impartial governance and inclusive representation of all SAF value chain participants, including airlines, fuel producers and suppliers, airline customers, and governmental bodies. Its governance model is designed to foster broad international support and participation, thereby enhancing CADO’s SAF Registry’s credibility and effectiveness.
CADO actively supports ICAO and its member States in achieving the objectives set forth by the Third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) and in facilitating SAF claims under CORSIA. CADO invites ICAO to collaborate through the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) working groups to share knowledge and assess use-case scenarios for SAF Registry implementation across member States. CADO would welcome ICAO to be part of its governance.
The need for a trusted accounting system
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is crucial for reducing aviation's carbon footprint and is expected to account for 65% of emissions reductions by 2050. However, as of today, the supply of SAF is limited and not always available in locations where it is most needed. What can help to tackle this availability issue is splitting the SAF environmental attributes from the physical fuel so that airlines can claim the use of SAF even without physically transporting it. To be able to do that, the industry needs a trusted SAF accounting system that will transparently track and account for the SAF environmental attributes and the associated SAF claims while preventing SAF double-counting and double-claiming.
CADO's SAF Registry meets these criteria and establishes a global, transparent, and liquid market for SAF which is critical for air transportation’s transition to net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. In essence, it functions as a chain of custody system, simplifying the administration and accounting of SAF environmental claims while safeguarding the strategic interests of airlines, meeting the needs of other SAF value chain stakeholders, and adhering to the GHG Protocol.
The Registry was developed in consultation with airlines, government authorities, OEMs, fuel producers and suppliers, and corporate travel management companies. With over 35 early users already in the process of onboarding and ready to use the system, the Registry is underpinned by the IATA SAF Accounting and Reporting Methodology, which provides a consistent approach to accounting for the environmental benefits of SAF purchases, regardless of location.
