Logistics giant DSV has inked the biggest single-customer sustainable aviation fuel deal in United Airlines' Eco-Skies Alliance program, an 11-million-gallon (41.6-million-litre) agreement with Phillips 66 producing the fuel and Microsoft as a co-buyer.
United will burn the SAF; DSV and Microsoft will share the verified emissions reductions through a book-and-claim arrangement, which lets corporate buyers pay for the environmental attribute without ever touching the molecule.
The combined claim from the parties: roughly 100,000 tonnes of lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions versus conventional jet — what the partners framed as "one freighter-flight every day of the year."
Why the scale matters
SAF deals usually run small. A few hundred thousand gallons here, a million there, a one-year option somewhere else. Eleven million gallons committed across a four-party value chain — producer, airline, freight forwarder, and end shipper — is a different size of bet. United is calling it the largest single-customer agreement it has signed under Eco-Skies.
"This is the largest contracted SAF supply agreement with a single customer, DSV, in the history of our corporate SAF program," said Lauren Riley, United's Chief Sustainability Officer.
For producers, that's a demand signal worth budgeting against. SAF capacity is expensive to build and slow to ramp; long-dated, contracted offtake at this scale is what unlocks the next refinery investment cycle. "We're helping turn demand for lower-carbon aviation into a reliable, real-world supply," said Ronald Sanchez, VP of Aviation at Phillips 66.
Where the feedstock comes in
Eleven million gallons of SAF doesn't appear from nowhere. The HEFA pathway (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids) is the dominant route in commercial SAF production today. It runs on waste fats and oils: yellow grease, tallow, distillers' corn oil, and the rest of the FOG (fats, oils, and grease) basket we know.
Phillips 66 hasn't disclosed the feedstock mix on this contract. But every gallon committed under a long-term SAF deal is feedstock that has to come from somewhere upstream — and the upstream of HEFA SAF is, in large part, our industry.
The transaction is certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) standard and tracked through the SAF Certificate (SAFc) Registry, which logs each tonne of CO2 reduction against a specific shipper to prevent double-counting.
For collectors and haulers, contracts of this size are how short-term grease price moves become medium-term route economics. For processors, they signal which buyers are committing real money. For traders and brokers, they're another long-dated SAF tonne to mark against feedstock supply curves that aren't, by anyone's read, getting longer in 2026.
