en.Wedoany.com Reported - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree on the 12th establishing rules for the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market. Decree No. 13.094/2026 stipulates that domestic airlines must begin using SAF from 2027, with an initial share of 1%, and that at least 10% of their fuel consumption must come from this source by 2037. The decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Union on the 13th.
Unlike the rules for blending ethanol into gasoline or biodiesel into diesel, the SAF mandate is not measured by volume but by the actual decarbonization effect delivered by the product. The decree also sets rules for the sale and blending of the fossil fuels currently used by airlines. Renato Dutra, Secretary of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), stated that airlines' compliance with the target will be assessed on an overall basis, rather than per individual flight. Airlines, for their part, believe the measure will generate costs that will be passed on to end consumers, reflected in ticket prices; fuel accounts for an average of about 40% of company costs. SAF already has specific implementation rules for international flights, serving the industry's decarbonization goals.
The decree establishes the "Book & Claim" system for SAF, which allows for the reservation and claiming of sustainability certificates. This system separates the physical fuel from its environmental attributes, enabling companies and airlines around the world to purchase carbon reduction credits corresponding to SAF even when refueling with conventional kerosene.
Dutra said the decree clarifies how SAF will be commercialized, how sustainability certificates will operate, and how Book & Claim will be applied, setting rules for operators to meet the mandate on domestic flights and addressing integration with Corsia (the global carbon reduction mechanism), giving substance to the conclusions of the SAF committee and the law itself under the "Future Fuels" program.
Regarding the decision not to specify a concrete fuel blend ratio for aircraft, Dutra said this is intended to encourage competition among different SAF production methods. He cited as an example that producing SAF from a certain oilseed crop using HEFA technology could reduce emissions by "X" percentage, while another route, ATJ, using ethanol or other alcohols, achieves far greater reduction efficiency. To reach the same target, the former would require a significantly larger volume of fuel than the latter. He made these remarks to reporters in Brasília at the close of the 7th Biodiesel Week, just hours before the decree was signed.
The Petrobras director also stated that Book & Claim could boost the local SAF industry, allowing foreign airlines to purchase the fuel without physically transporting it abroad. Dutra summarized that this mechanism provides the necessary conditions for consolidating the SAF industry domestically and enabling it to seize global opportunities, referring to the separate sale or utilization of credits.
The Brazilian Airlines Association (Abear) said in a statement that economic incentives should target not only production but also the use of SAF, and that implementation should be accompanied by "cost neutrality." The association noted that Brazil could become one of the world's leading suppliers of the product in the future and advocated for maintaining diversity in technological routes. Abear proposed providing tax and fiscal incentives in the early transition phase to encourage research and production, while adhering to strict socio-environmental standards to avoid negative impacts on water resources and biodiversity. The association reminded that aviation accounts for only 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and has already advanced its energy transition through investments in more efficient aircraft, routes, and operations, but large-scale SAF use is only viable under cost neutrality—a reality that does not yet exist for an industry where fuel represents roughly 40% of total expenditures.
