Fastmarkets Halts European SAF Price Assessments with Dutch HBE Credits

Commodity price reporting agency Fastmarkets will discontinue two of its European sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) price assessments, effective April 30, 2026. The decision follows a significant regulatory shift in the Netherlands, which has updated its national biofuel mandate to exclude the aviation sector, rendering the specific price assessments obsolete.

The two assessments being halted are those that reflect the value of Dutch Hernieuwbare Brandstofeenheden - Annex IX Part B (HBE-IXB) credits. These tradable certificates, known in English as Renewable Fuel Units, have been a key component of the Netherlands' system for incentivizing renewable fuel use in transport. One HBE represents one gigajoule of renewable energy. The final HBE year-end closing by the Nederlandse Emissieautoriteit (Nea), or Dutch Emissions Authority, is scheduled for May 1, 2026, aligning with the timing of the Fastmarkets discontinuation.

This change is a direct result of the Netherlands transposing the European Union's updated Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) into its national law. A core component of this transposition is the decoupling of aviation from the national mandate system, a move designed to align with broader EU-level aviation policies.

Regulatory Shift to EU-Wide Mandates

The exclusion of aviation from the Dutch HBE system is part of a larger trend across Europe. The continent is moving away from a patchwork of national biofuel incentive programs for aviation and toward a single, harmonized regulatory framework. This new framework is the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, which establishes a unified set of SAF blending mandates for all airports within the European Union.

Under ReFuelEU Aviation, fuel suppliers are required to ensure a minimum share of SAF is available in all aviation fuel supplied to EU airports. The regulation sets a clear, escalating timeline for compliance, starting with a 2% SAF blend in 2025. This minimum requirement will increase every five years, reaching 70% by 2050. The regulation also includes specific sub-mandates to encourage the development of advanced biofuels and synthetic fuels, also known as e-fuels. Notably, a sub-mandate for synthetic fuels produced from renewable hydrogen will require them to account for 1.2% of aviation fuel from 2030.

By creating a dedicated, EU-wide mandate for aviation, regulators aim to provide a stable, long-term demand signal to SAF producers, encouraging investment in production capacity and technology. This approach supersedes national-level systems like the Dutch HBE program for the aviation sector, which created compliance pathways that varied from one member state to another.

Impact on SAF Market Transparency

The discontinuation of the HBE-inclusive price assessments by Fastmarkets reflects the evolving structure of the European SAF market. As the compliance mechanism shifts from national credits to a direct blending mandate, pricing benchmarks must also adapt. Price assessments that include the value of HBE-IXB credits are no longer representative of the compliance costs airlines and fuel suppliers will face under the new regime.

Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs) play a critical role in providing transparency for opaque commodity markets like SAF. Their benchmarks are used for contract negotiations, risk management, and investment decisions. The decision to halt the assessments is a procedural response to a fundamental change in market regulation, ensuring that published prices accurately reflect current market and compliance realities.

The broader SAF market continues to grow, driven by both regulatory mandates and voluntary corporate commitments to decarbonization. As the ReFuelEU Aviation mandates take effect, the industry will likely see the development of new price assessments and financial instruments tailored to this new regulatory environment. The focus will shift from the value of tradable certificates to the premium of SAF over conventional jet fuel and the costs associated with meeting specific blending targets across the EU.

Why This Matters

This development signals the maturation of Europe's aviation decarbonization policy, marking a definitive shift from fragmented national incentives to a unified, pan-European regulatory framework. For airlines, fuel suppliers, and SAF producers, it removes ambiguity and standardizes compliance obligations across the EU. The change necessitates a strategic pivot in pricing, trading, and investment, aligning all market activities with the specific, long-term mandates of the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation.

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