Sept. 10, 2021
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen participated in a virtual White House event on Sept. 9 focused on ways to spur the production, availability and use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), with a goal of reaching a production capacity of 3 billion gallons by 2030.
During the session, the administration announced the launch of a new Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge, to inspire a dramatic increase in SAF production; White House officials also reiterated their strong support for an SAF blender’s tax credit – an initiative supported by NBAA and a host of other aviation organizations.
The association has been a leader in promoting greater use of SAF by supporting policies that will help mitigate the fuels’ higher cost and working with fuel producers to increase its availability to operators. NBAA is an active member of a broad coalition of groups, representing every segment of the nation’s civil aviation industry. The fuels hold the promise of dramatic reduction in aviation carbon emissions.
“The business aviation community has long been focused on flying safely, securely and sustainably,” Bolen told White House officials. “Increasing SAF production is a key part of our sustainability agenda, and we will continue to promote proposals to increase the availability of these fuels as quickly as possible.”
Commitments Across the Aviation Sector to Support SAF
“The engagement of the full ecosystem of aviation stakeholders will be critical to advance technological innovation, create new job opportunities, and contribute to the administration’s economy-wide goal of net zero emissions by 2050,” the White House said in a statement. “New and recent commitments by airlines, aircraft manufacturers, fuel providers, and airports – in concert with government investment will significantly reduce emissions by 2030 and put us on the pathway to a zero-carbon aviation sector.”
Passenger and cargo airlines pledged to accelerate the adoption of SAF, and fuel providers said they would scale up production. Companies announcing potential production scale-up include BP, Virent, Honeywell, Shell, Neste, Marquis, Green Plains Inc., ADM, Prometheus, Aemetis and members of the Renewable Fuels Association and members of Growth Energy.
Through the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative, of which NBAA is a partner, significant education about the benefits of SAF and best practices for its use in business aviation continues, but additional supply is critical to achieving our sustainability goals. While the availability of SAF at FBOs around the country continues to grow, policies such as the blender’s tax credit are critical to making the fuel more broadly available at a competitive price.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.