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The Biden administration on Friday unveiled the framework of its plan to achieve one of the most elusive goals in the fight against global warming: making jet travel more climate-friendly.
The proposal calls for granting subsidies to support the development of so-called sustainable aviation fuels that can power aircraft engines made from agricultural products. Examples of such fuels include biofuels made from soybeans, diesel made from animal fats and traditional types of ethanol.
Senior White House officials said the program would clean up the airline industry while bringing prosperity to rural America.
But environmental groups and some scientists expressed reservations the plan, which would provide subsidies based on a scientific model previously used to justify incentives for corn-based ethanol. Studies have found the gasoline additive exacerbates climate change.
The new tax credits created by the climate law signed by President Biden are intended to boost production of jet fuels that produce no more than half the emissions of the petroleum-based product. Each gallon of this fuel is eligible for a tax credit of up to $1.75 per gallon.
“The concern is that they end up subsidizing fuels that require an enormous amount of land to produce,” said Tim Searchinger, a senior research scientist at Princeton University. In addition to corn-based ethanol, he said, the new subsidy could spur massive new production of biofuels from vegetable oil, replacing farmland currently used to grow food with crops harvested to produce jet fuel.
This, in turn, could lead to more deforestation around the world as land is cleared to replenish displaced food production in the U.S., Searchinger said.
Administration officials said in a call with reporters Thursday that they are carefully weighing such concerns. Authorities are in the process of updating the scientific model used to measure the climate friendliness of aviation fuels, they said, and it is being revised to take into account the emissions impact of farmland converted from food to fuel production. Federal agencies plan to complete their revisions by March 1.
“The sustainable aviation fuel industry is a potential 36 billion gallon industry that is essentially just getting started,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on the call. “This is a big, big deal.”
The announcement is pressing the complicated politics of ethanol and biofuels in an election year. Subsidies for such products have become popular in some Midwestern swing states, and industry players are demanding maximum flexibility in the products that could qualify for the new jet fuel subsidies.
Vilsack said the government is committed to making as many agricultural-derived fuels eligible as possible, including those made using new technologies such as “climate-smart” agriculture and machines that capture and store emissions. The effectiveness of such technologies is controversial among scientists and climate economists.
“There are some who argue that when assessing the climate benefits of your fuel, you should take into account the carbon that a crop absorbs and deposits in the soil,” said Mark Brownstein, a senior vice president who leads energy transition work at Environmental Defense monitors funds. “Theoretically, that makes sense. However, it turns out that in practice it is very difficult to document whether this is happening and to what extent the carbon remains permanently stored in the soil.”
Jet travel is one of the most pressing climate issues. Despite producing just 2 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the most persistent of all sectors. These emissions are increasing as the travel industry recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unlike cars, jumbo jets cannot run on batteries. The enormous energy consumption means electrification is only possible for small aircraft on short routes. That's why the industry has turned to kerosene, which can power existing engines but releases fewer emissions when burned. These products, which are typically blended with conventional jet fuel, are marketed as “sustainable jet fuel.”
Last month, Virgin Atlantic operated the first transatlantic flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel. A company press release claimed that the flight emitted 70 percent less carbon than a flight fueled by petroleum-based kerosene.
But sustainable aviation fuel accounts for less than one percent of the kerosene burned worldwide. Currently, much of it is made from waste products such as animal fats or French fry fat. But supplies of such raw materials will quickly be depleted as airlines shift away from oil to meet their climate goals.
The United States and other countries are racing to increase production of low-carbon aviation fuels that can be produced on a larger scale to not only meet climate goals but also become dominant players in a fledgling industry with enormous growth potential. Vilsack said there is a need for 36 million gallons of fuel, which is more than twice the amount of corn-based ethanol the U.S. produces annually. This new industry will create 400,000 jobs, he said.
“You can do the math,” Vilsack said. “This is a tremendous opportunity.”