US President Joe Biden made a renewed push for new tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a key part of reducing carbon emissions from air travel, reported Reuters.
Biden last year called for tax incentives for low carbon jet fuel, made from waste and vegetable oils as part of a broader climate and social spending package that is stalled in Congress. The White House is targeting 20% lower aviation emissions by 2030 and those incentives are crucial to making the fuel competitive.
"We brought together the government agencies, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, fuel producers, airports," Biden said at an event in Iowa, arguing the push would result in "advanced, cleaner and more sustainable fuels for American aviation."
National Air Carrier Association President and Chief Executive Officer George Novak praised Biden "for recognizing the critical role that sustainable aviation fuel will play in further reducing the airline industry's carbon footprint."
Airlines face pressure from environmental groups to lower their carbon footprint and have pledged to use more SAF. Biden cited American Airlines and United Airlines' support for SAF and said biofuels were key to decarbonize aviation.
The push to accelerate carbon cutting in aviation is part of Biden's target of making the US net carbon neutral by 2050.
It comes as the US and Europe are trying to boost production of SAF, which is now made in minuscule quantities from feedstocks such as used cooking oil, and can be two to five times more expensive than standard jet fuel.
As MRC wrote before, Honeywell and Oriental Energy have recently jointly announced that a SAF production facility with an output capacity of 1 MMtpy will be built in Maoming, Guangdong Province in China. The new facility will help meet a growing SAF demand, facilitate GHG emission reduction in aviation fuel production through the deployment of innovative technologies and support China’s goals to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
MRC