A year after launching at EBACE 2022, Azzera (Booth O59) has returned to the 2023 show this week to unveil its business aircraft carbon offsetting and compliance-management platform. The company is inviting operators to beta test the platform—dubbed Azzera Celeste—ahead of a commercial launch later this year.

The fully integrated, subscription-based platform calculates the CO2 emissions of an aircraft or fleet of aircraft. It then segregates these emissions into the various “compliance markets” where each flight is operating—notably the European Union and the UK’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the in-development, ICAO-led Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia), set for introduction in 2027.

Business aircraft operators are notified if they have exceeded an emission threshold and are instructed to purchase carbon credits, compliance credits, and/or sustainable aviation fuel credits (SAFC) to mitigate these emissions. A range of carbon offset offerings can be acquired on the platform’s retail marketplace, all of which have been “rigorously assessed and approved by Azzera’s team of experts,” the company explained.

Company co-founder and chief executive Puja Mahajan described the platform as a “one-stop shop to manage emissions compliance and mitigation.” Azzera—Italian for “to zero”—has partnered with flight scheduling software company Skylegs, which will supply the data needed to calculate emissions from each flight.

“We have been building the platform over the last 12 months and the [minimum viable platform] is being unveiled at EBACE with Skylegs as our launch partner,” said Mahajan. “We’re working with them for an API integration with their software, and existing Skylegs users will have access to our platform immediately.”

Other scheduling software providers will be added as the platform grows. “We’re going to partner with as many as we can to increase our market base and global reach,” said Mahajan.

Azzera will begin beta testing the cloud-based software-as-a-service platform after EBACE and has set its sights on a commercial launch in the third quarter. “We are looking for around 10 to 20 business aircraft operators to give feedback over the next few months—to tell us what works well with the platform and what can be improved,” explained Mahajan.

The company also offers carbon credits for the voluntary marketplace, which Mahajan encourages aircraft owners to consider. “Even if aircraft are under the compliance threshold for emissions, owners and operators still have an obligation to do something for humanity and figure out how they can reduce their environmental impact,” she noted.   

Preparation for the launch has been intense, Mahajan added, and the platform has already generated considerable interest. In fact, Azzera was recently accepted into a Canadian government program called Innovation Solutions and the firm is now in talks with Transport Canada to use the platform for testing. Mahajan describes this development as “incredibly exciting,” adding that “if Transport Canada can advocate our platform for Corsia, or for operators to use for compliance and emissions management, that’s our nirvana.”

Other achievements for Azzera include an invitation last year to join the Climate Fintech (financial technology) Incubator program run by Zurich-based Tenity (formerly F10). “This has given a lot of exposure and structure to the company, and helped us to build a network, generate interest in the platform, and become investment ready,” said Mahajan.

In the fourth quarter, Azzera is seeking to raise between $3 million and $5 million in seed funding, which will be used to support the company’s expansion. “We will scale up to begin with in our key markets of Europe and Canada,” she said.  

While aviation is its focus for now, the company aims to be the leading platform for emissions management across the transportation fields, including shipping and trucking. “The scope is endless,” noted Mahajan. “We are concentrating on creating a really great product for the aviation industry first, but the platform will be scalable to other transportation markets.”