Sustainable Aviation Fuel on the Global Climate Agenda

Reducing aviation’s global carbon impact was on the agenda of the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow last November (COP26). During transportation day at COP26, the focus for the aviation sector was setting targets and commitments for aviation emissions reduction, as well as the announcement of plans and strategies for lowering aviation’s climate impact. This final article in our series on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) developments in 2021 will summarize what happened at COP26 related to SAF from an international perspective as well as specific announcements made by the United States.

Twenty-three nations representing over 40 percent of global commercial aviation, including the United States and Canada, most of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, and Costa Rica announced the formation of the International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition (IACAC). The IACAC COP Declaration commits the participating countries to work together on actions to reduce aviation’s climate impact to a level consistent with limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. China, Germany, India, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates—five nations that are among the top 10 countries for passenger aviation emissions—did not join the coalition.

According to the IACAC declaration, sustainable aviation fuels should reduce life-cycle carbon emissions and SAF production and development should “contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular avoiding competition with food production for land use and water supply.” The declaration also commits the countries to publishing updated state action plans called for by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to identify specific actions nations are taking to reduce aviation emissions.

The United States released the 2021 update of its Aviation Climate Action Plan, outlining several strategies to move the country’s aviation sector to net zero by 2050, at the conference. The U.S. plan, last updated in 2015, will engage multiple government agencies, airlines, passengers, airports, manufacturers, suppliers, and energy companies. Technology development, operational improvements such as more efficient air traffic management, the expanded deployment of SAF, and the use of offsets from greenhouse gas reductions in other sectors are all part of the plan. SAF is expected to make the largest contribution to a net-zero aviation sector.

The U.S. 2021 Aviation Climate Action Plan lists a summary of actions needed to increase domestic production of SAF to approximately three billion gallons per year by 2030 and 35 billion gallons annually by mid-century. The plan includes current activity the U.S. government is pursuing to help build the SAF industry, including setting “robust standards” to maximize the environmental benefits of SAF, addressing supply chain challenges, and reducing risk to encourage investor confidence.

Collaborative work between the industry, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Transportation (DOT) in research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) of sustainable aviation fuels will continue and expand under the SAF Grand Challenge announced by the Biden-Harris Administration in September 2021 and described in the second article in this series. The RDD&D is primarily directed at elements of the supply chain to improve diversity and efficiency of production methods at a lower cost. The FAA will be working to gain approval to use 100 percent SAF in jet engines instead of the current maximum of 50 percent SAF blended with conventional jet fuel.

The U.S. 2021 Aviation Climate Action Plan and SAF Grand Challenge both call for enactment of the SAF Blender’s Tax Credit proposed in the Build Back Better agenda and also included in separate legislation before Congress. This tax credit would help level the playing field with renewable diesel for road transport, which can currently be produced at a lower cost than SAF thanks to a more favorable tax treatment. Renewable diesel competes for feedstock and production capacity with sustainable aviation fuel. Equal tax treatment will help minimize the advantage of renewable diesel and bring SAF costs closer to that of conventional jet fuel.

Another SAF-related comprehensive publication released at COP26 was the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Policy Toolkit published by the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition to provide policymakers around the world with options for expanding SAF production and use. Noting that public policy was critical in scaling wind and solar markets as well as biodiesel for road transport, the report makes the case for policy support for the nascent SAF industry. The SAF Policy Toolkit outlines supply and demand-side measures to grow an SAF market and to ensure SAF feedstock sustainability.

Increasing SAF supply and demand in the commercial aviation industry is also the goal of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), founded in April 2021 by RMI and the Environmental Defense Fund, and described in the third article in this series. SABA’s mission is to encourage new SAF production, technological innovation, and support policy-making efforts to advance the industry. On transportation day at COP26, SABA announced Amazon Air, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and United Airlines—among others—had joined the alliance. These operators can collectively send a stronger demand signal to the industry.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke at COP26 to emphasize the critical role SAF will play in achieving the goal of net-zero carbon emissions for U.S. aviation by 2050. The Secretary described the federal government’s strategy as an interagency effort by the FAA, USDA, DOE, and DOT to reduce the cost of sustainable aviation fuel, while also increasing its production and sustainability. Buttigieg also emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing the industry. Following his remarks, the Secretary joined a panel discussion that included United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who has made United* the largest purchaser of SAF and the leading investor in SAF production among the world’s airlines.

The FAA estimates the return of commercial air traffic to 2019 levels by 2024 for U.S. domestic travel and 2025 for international travel. Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook, 2021 – 2040 anticipates a global recovery led by domestic travel and followed by international travel in 2023–2024. To keep pace with the recovering commercial aviation industry’s growth and emissions, the development and deployment of SAF will need to accelerate. The nascent SAF industry is gathering takeoff speed and requires aggressive policy support to help the supply of low-carbon fuel meet growing demand.

Author: Jeff Overton

*United Airlines is a financial supporter of EESI.

Read all of the articles in the sustainable aviation series.

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