Carbon Direct sets global criteria for high-quality low carbon fuels

Carbon Direct on June 16 released criteria that fold six quality principles into one procurement screen for voluntary-market low-carbon fuels. The company said the framework is globally applicable, covers the full fuel value chain from feedstock sourcing to end use, and is meant to complement existing certifications rather than replace them.

The Criteria for High-Quality Low Carbon Fuels is aimed at buyers trying to compare projects on social and environmental integrity, carbon accounting, additionality, feedstock sourcing, leakage, and environmental impacts and social equity. Carbon Direct said the tool gives voluntary buyers a common reference point in a market where airlines, freight operators, corporate buyers and intermediaries are increasingly asking whether a fuel’s emissions claim is defensible, whether the feedstock is responsibly sourced and whether the project creates new supply rather than simply redirecting gallons that would have been sold anyway.

Rohan Raman, senior hybrid decarbonization engineer at Carbon Direct, said the voluntary low-carbon fuels market is "complex, crowded, and moving fast," and said the criteria provide a unified set of quality principles for assessing procurement. Carbon Direct’s guidance says the framework is intended to show buyers where additional diligence may still be needed, which could push offtake negotiations toward stronger documentation on lifecycle accounting and supply-chain governance.

The release landed as policy and demand signals tighten around the sector. The International Energy Agency says aviation and shipping will account for more than 75 percent of new biofuel demand by 2030, and its renewables outlook projects sustainable aviation fuel consumption rising from 1 billion litres in 2024 to 9 billion litres in 2030, or 0.31 exajoules, to meet 2 percent of total aviation fuel demand in the agency’s main case. The agency also says average annual consumption in aviation and shipping expands 30 percent between 2023 and 2030 to meet targets in North America, Europe and Japan.

In the United States, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on March 27 finalized Renewable Fuel Standard volumes and percentage standards for 2026 and 2027, including a 70 percent reallocation of small refinery exemptions granted for 2023 through 2025. That leaves buyers and developers with a harder regulatory backdrop even as voluntary procurement frameworks multiply. Carbon Direct is positioning its criteria as a consolidated quality screen for that market, but whether it becomes a de facto buying standard or one more layer in an already crowded field will depend on how quickly airlines, fuel suppliers and intermediaries adopt it in contract terms.