Jan-Christoph Oetjen has proposed a "book and claim" system as a mechanism to speed up the take-up of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The proposal addresses a structural problem in aviation decarbonisation. Under a book-and-claim framework, an airline purchases SAF credits that are fed into the fuel system at a location remote from where the aircraft actually uplifts fuel. The environmental attribute is registered and claimed by the buyer even though the physical molecule never touches that carrier's tanks.

The logic is one of logistics and cost. SAF production capacity remains concentrated at a limited number of facilities. Airlines operating from airports without SAF infrastructure cannot physically access the fuel, and transporting small volumes to dispersed locations erodes much of the lifecycle emissions benefit through tankerage and handling. A registry-based system separates the environmental attribute from the physical product, allowing fuel to be delivered where production and distribution are efficient while credit accrues to the paying operator.

For airlines, the model matters because SAF carries a substantial price premium over conventional Jet A-1. Book and claim allows carriers to aggregate purchases, buy at scale from the most competitive producers, and book the certified volumes against regulatory obligations and corporate climate commitments without routing physical supply through their own networks.

Oetjen, a German member of the European Parliament, is pushing the mechanism as a way to expedite adoption at a point when SAF volumes remain a small fraction of total jet fuel consumption in Europe. The EU has already mandated a progressive SAF blending requirement at Union airports through ReFuelEU Aviation, forcing both suppliers and carriers to scale uptake over the coming decade. Mechanisms that lower transactional friction matter to that trajectory: if airlines can only claim SAF they physically uplift, uptake is constrained by airport-level supply; if they can claim certified credits, demand can flow to wherever production actually exists.

The credibility of any book-and-claim scheme rests on certification and registry integrity. Auditors and regulators need verable chain-of-custody documentation so that each batch of environmental attributes is claimed once, and only once, by a single buyer. Double counting — the same litre of SAF supporting multiple carriers' targets — is the principal integrity risk, and any EU-level framework would need accounting rules robust enough to satisfy both regulators and the airlines reporting against binding blend mandates.

Details of how Oetjen envisages implementing the system, and at what legislative level he intends to table it, were not specified in the announcement. The proposal nonetheless signals parliamentary interest in market-based accounting as a complement to supply-side mandates, positioning book and claim as a potential accelerant for SAF demand formation in Europe.