Briefing
Shell’s Avelia platform, a blockchain-based “book and claim” system for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), has successfully integrated Moeve as its first external supplier, fundamentally expanding the network’s capacity and operational reach. This move transforms the platform from a closed consortium initiative into an open, multi-party digital marketplace, directly addressing the aviation industry’s challenge of scaling SAF adoption and ensuring verifiable emission reduction claims. The platform’s strategic expansion is underpinned by its prior success, having already facilitated the use of over 41 million gallons of SAF across 17 global airports by mid-2025.
Context
The traditional process for tracking and claiming the environmental benefits of Sustainable Aviation Fuel is hampered by physical supply chain limitations and the complexity of auditing cross-border emission credits. The prevailing operational challenge is the high cost and logistical inefficiency of physically delivering SAF to every consumption point, which restricts market growth and introduces significant counterparty risk in verifying the ‘green’ attribute claims separate from the physical fuel flow. This inefficiency prevents the aviation sector from meeting its critical decarbonization goals at scale.
Analysis
This adoption alters the industry’s supply chain logistics and treasury management by implementing a shared, immutable record for environmental attribute certificates. The Avelia platform, built with partners like Amex GBT and Accenture, uses DLT to create a digital twin of the SAF’s environmental benefit (the “claim”), which is decoupled from the physical fuel delivery (the “book”). The chain of cause and effect is clear ∞ Moeve’s integration increases the supply of verifiable SAF claims, which allows corporate buyers and airlines to purchase the necessary credits for compliance and ESG reporting without the physical fuel having to be routed to their specific airport. This increases capital efficiency and reduces the cost of compliance for all network participants, establishing a new standard for transparent, auditable, and scalable environmental commodity trading within the energy vertical.
Parameters
- Core Platform ∞ Avelia
- Lead Enterprise ∞ Shell
- New Supplier ∞ Moeve (Spanish Energy Company)
- Consortium Partners ∞ Amex Global Business Travel, Accenture
- Use Case Model ∞ Blockchain-based “Book and Claim” System
- Scale Metric ∞ Over 41 million gallons of SAF facilitated (by mid-2025)
- Supplier Capacity Target ∞ 800,000 metric tons per year by 2030
Outlook
The immediate next phase involves onboarding additional external SAF producers to rapidly scale the network effect, positioning Avelia as the dominant digital infrastructure for the global SAF market. This move will compel competing energy majors to develop interoperable DLT solutions or join the Avelia framework to maintain market share in the rapidly evolving environmental commodity space. The established “book and claim” DLT standard is likely to be adapted for other difficult-to-track, high-value environmental assets, setting a precedent for verifiable ESG supply chain reporting across multiple industries.
Verdict
The integration of an external supplier into Avelia validates the consortium DLT model as the critical mechanism for achieving verifiable, scaled environmental compliance and supply chain efficiency in the global energy transition.
