Petrobras’ Cardano Projects Track Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Renewable Diesel
Key Facts
The Cardano Foundation said on September 30, 2026, that it had completed two blockchain-based applications with Brazilian company Petrobras, focused on sustainable aviation fuel and R Diesel, a renewable diesel. The announcement framed the initiatives as research and development cooperation, not a new announcement on November 6. The first project links a physical fuel certificate to a digital record of its associated environmental benefits, while the second tracks renewable diesel through production, transport and use. "The energy transition will depend on trust as much as it depends on new fuels," said Rafael Fraga, the foundation’s regional business development lead.
In the sustainable aviation fuel project, the Cardano system records the environmental benefits associated with a fuel certificate from issuance through its final claim. The model is based on a "book-and-claim" mechanism, which separates the environmental benefit from the physical fuel itself. This allows the benefit to be assigned to an airline, company or passenger even when the fuel is produced or used in a different location from the beneficiary. The separation makes it possible to document the environmental claim without requiring the fuel to be consumed where the beneficiary is located. The network ledger shows the source of the benefit and the party to which it was assigned, alongside evidence that it was claimed only once.
The proposed use also extends to passengers, who can enter their departure and arrival airports to calculate the amount of sustainable aviation fuel corresponding to their route. After the calculation, passengers receive a certificate recording the route, distance traveled and associated allocation. According to the foundation’s description of the project, this step combines flight data with a record of the environmental benefit assigned to it. R Diesel, Petrobras’ trade name for renewable diesel, is the second project in the cooperation. The project, developed by Petrobras with PUC-Rio University, proposes establishing digital checkpoints at stages of production, transport and use to create a connected record of the fuel’s lifecycle.
The initiatives come amid emissions-reduction requirements for domestic aviation operators in Brazil. The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels says the minimum emissions reduction starts at 1% as of January 1, 2027, then rises gradually to reach 10% in 2037. On domestic supply, Petrobras announced the sale of the first batch of sustainable aviation fuel produced entirely in Brazil, totaling 3 thousand cubic meters, to distributors operating at Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro. These details provide operational context for the two projects: one links a fuel certificate with environmental benefits, while the other tracks the lifecycle of a renewable diesel.
Petrobras said the sustainable aviation fuel it produces is certified under the ISCC-CORSIA standard, and that the feedstocks covered by the certification are technical corn oil or soybean oil. The company estimated that net carbon dioxide emissions from the renewable portion of the fuel could fall by up to 87%. The tracking mechanism in the Cardano project links the physical certificate with a record of environmental benefits, while the "book-and-claim" model allows those benefits to be assigned to a party that may be far from where the fuel is produced or used. According to the foundation, the ledger shows the source of the benefit, the party that received it and whether it has been used in a previous claim. The September 30 announcement did not specify a subsequent implementation date or the release of further results from the two projects.