The Cardano Foundation has announced two blockchain initiatives with Brazilian energy company Petrobras, extending their research and development collaboration with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). The projects apply Cardano’s public blockchain to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and Diesel R, Petrobras’ renewable diesel brand, with a focus on improving the traceability and verification of environmental data across fuel supply chains.
Announced on September 30, 2026, the initiatives address challenges associated with proving the origin and environmental benefits of renewable fuels. As companies face growing pressure to report emissions and substantiate sustainability claims, information about fuel production, distribution and use can be difficult to reconcile across different organizations and recordkeeping systems. The new applications are designed to create verifiable digital records that connect information from different stages of the fuel lifecycle.
The collaboration brings together Petrobras, the Cardano Foundation and PUC-Rio’s blockchain research center, Ledger Labs. It also adds to Cardano’s growing portfolio of real-world blockchain applications in Brazil, where the energy sector provides a significant environment for testing systems that support data transparency and accountability. Rather than changing how renewable fuels are physically produced or transported, the projects focus on improving how related certificates and lifecycle information are recorded, shared and verified.
Cardano Applies Blockchain to Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificates
The sustainable aviation fuel project uses a Book-and-Claim model to track environmental benefits separately from the physical fuel. This approach is relevant because SAF may be produced or supplied in one location while an airline or other organization seeks to claim the associated environmental benefit elsewhere. Separating the fuel’s physical movement from the allocation of its sustainability attributes can widen access to SAF benefits, but it also creates a need for reliable records that prevent duplicate claims.
The Cardano-based application links a physical fuel certificate to a digital record of its associated environmental benefit. The record is intended to show where the benefit originated, how it was assigned and which participant received it. By keeping this information traceable, the system aims to make it easier for organizations to verify that an environmental benefit has not been claimed more than once.
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The project also includes a process for individual passengers to receive certificates connected to SAF benefits. Travelers can enter their departure and destination airports, calculate a corresponding amount of certified sustainable aviation fuel benefit, and receive a digital certificate recording details such as their route and distance traveled. The certificate is linked back to the original SAF record, creating a traceable path between the fuel’s environmental attributes and the final claim.
This approach could help make sustainability information more accessible to airlines, businesses and passengers. However, blockchain records alone do not establish the accuracy of the original environmental data. The reliability of the system will also depend on the quality of the underlying fuel certificates, the processes used to verify them and the rules governing how environmental benefits are allocated.
Petrobras Project Tracks Renewable Diesel Across Its Lifecycle
The second initiative applies blockchain technology to Diesel R, Petrobras’ renewable diesel product. Developed with PUC-Rio, the project is designed to create digital checkpoints across production, transportation and use, connecting information from each stage into a continuous record of the fuel’s lifecycle.
This type of traceability is particularly relevant to Scope 3 greenhouse-gas emissions reporting. Scope 3 covers indirect emissions across an organization’s wider value chain, including activities involving suppliers, logistics providers and customers. Collecting consistent information across these participants can be difficult, especially when data is stored in separate systems and shared in different formats.
By linking records across the fuel’s journey, the application aims to provide a clearer history of its production and movement, while making emissions-related information easier to audit. A shared digital record could help participating organizations compare data and identify where information originated. It may also reduce some of the manual reconciliation involved in preparing sustainability reports, although the practical impact will depend on adoption across the supply chain.
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Rafael Fraga, LATAM Business Development Lead at the Cardano Foundation, said that trust and verifiable environmental data will be important to the energy transition as value chains become more complex. The projects reflect that focus by using public blockchain infrastructure to create shared records that can be checked by relevant participants.
The two initiatives demonstrate different applications of the same underlying technology: the SAF project focuses on the allocation and verification of environmental benefits, while the Diesel R project concentrates on lifecycle traceability and emissions-related data. Their development adds to Cardano’s enterprise activity in Brazil and illustrates how blockchain can support recordkeeping in established industries.
The projects do not, by themselves, confirm large-scale commercial deployment or independently verify the environmental performance of the fuels. Their longer-term value will depend on implementation, data quality and participation by organizations throughout the relevant supply chains. For Cardano, the Petrobras collaboration provides a practical setting to develop and assess blockchain applications aimed at improving transparency in renewable energy markets.
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