Book & Claim, Mass Balancing, and Direct Fueling don’t represent a strict hierarchical relationship. Instead, they are better understood as complementary building blocks or attribution systems – each with its own trade-offs and applications. Learn more about the differences.
In our understanding, the sustainable fuel attribution methods Book & Claim, Mass Balancing, and Direct Fueling are not strictly MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive). These attribution methods are used to manage and verify the application of sustainable fuels or energy carriers. An overview of our differentiation:
Book & Claim
- What it is: sustainability attributes (defining a green-house gas (GHG) reduction) are decoupled from physical activity. A company buys a certificate (“claim”) that supports sustainable interventions elsewhere. This can be equivalent to mass-balancing and requires a clear and dedicated proof for additionality of the interventions, once it is applied to setups, where the beneficiary is not anymore directly linked to the supply chain where the intervention takes place.
- Nature: no physical link needs to exist. It’s a certificate-based system, used for scaling the market due to its high flexibility. It is currently debated whether a proof for additionality is sufficient or whether a direct link of the sustainable intervention to the supply chain of the beneficiary is required to create enough differentiation to an offsetting mechanism.
- Use case: additionality-passing sustainable fuel amounts that get into the transport system without being part of anyone’s obligations, or mandatory quotas are very rare to find in road transportation due to its fragmented distribution system. These types of interventions are mainly seen in air and sea freight, where a proof-of-sustainability transmission tied to the documented additionality is easier to obtain.
Mass Balancing
- What it is: sustainable and conventional fuels are mixed in a clearly defined supply chain, but sustainability attributes are tracked and proportionally assigned to a (usually commercially engaged) direct beneficiary.
- Nature: a physical chain of custody is maintained, but the fuel is not necessarily used for every transport section for the beneficiary.
- Use case: commonly used in global systems, where full segregation is impractical, e.g., in maritime or aviation with globally operating assets and limited amounts of fueling points.
Direct Fueling
- What it is: the physical use of a sustainable fuel in the vehicle (e.g., a plane is filled with a blend of Sustainability Aviation Fuel (SAF) or a truck running on HVO100)
- Nature: this is the most direct and transparent method, involving no attribution or certificate swapping.
- Use case: including the approach into a unified transparency scheme comes with advantages for any transport buyer accepting only direct interventions or is served with multiple approaches in one streamlined data exchange format. Real-word challenges such as fuel blending, re-dispatchment, vehicle outages additionally help fulfilling contracted requirements compliantly considering real-world challenges to execute direct fueling/charging agreements accurately.
Sustainable Fuel Attribution: Conclusion
Book & Claim enables immediate action with minimal disruption.
Mass Balancing offers a practical transition approach.
Direct Fueling represents the ultimate goal for complete decarbonization.
Book & Claim requires precise emission calculations and robust data management with comprehensive clarification and quality assurance procedures. shipzero supports all approaches with its validated management system and aims to provide the tooling to comply with the strictest requirements towards reliable – transparently documented and singular accounted for – sustainable interventions. We collaborate with key stakeholders to further develop the Book & Claim framework towards broader adoption and advance the global standards for sustainable transport emissions.
To learn how your company can benefit from sustainable fuel attribution methods, please get in touch with one of our industry experts.
If you want to dive deeper into Book & Claim, please download our whitepaper (in English or German).
