Business Aviation SAF Coalition Urges Consistency, Flexibility in USDA Rules for Biofuel Feedstocks

Contact: Dan Hubbard, 202-431-5970, [email protected]

Washington, DC, Aug. 1, 2024 - A business aviation coalition has called on the Biden administration to follow the approach the government uses for existing biofuel programs when it develops rules to quantify and verify greenhouse gas emissions from various feedstocks for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Those rules will determine the level of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives available to SAF producers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking comments as it tries to encourage the use of climate-friendly farming practices to develop SAF feedstocks. The Biden administration's SAF Grand Challenge aims to have the U.S. producing 3 billion gallons of SAF by 2030.

In a recent letter to the USDA's Office of Energy and Environmental Policy, the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel urged the agency to largely follow the approach used with the Renewable Fuel Standard and other existing biofuel audit programs as it develops its rule detailing how companies should quantify, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions associated with SAF production.

"The BizAv SAF Coalition encourages the department to enable as much adaptability and flexibility in its framework as is practicable and encourages the USDA to embrace a performance-based approach in its analysis, focusing on outcomes rather than prescriptive and exclusionary lists of acceptable feedstocks," the coalition said in its letter.

Without the right approach and flexibility with the greenhouse gas rules, the U.S. will not be able to meet the SAF Grand Challenge goals, the coalition said. "It is likely that we will only achieve those goals through the existing scale and capabilities of U.S. agriculture through access to sustainable crop-based feedstocks," the coalition said.

When finalized, the greenhouse gas rules will impact how SAF producers can take advantage of the Clean Fuel Production Credit enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act.

That credit gives SAF producers up to $1.75 per gallon if they are creating the fuel using feedstocks that generate low or zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable aviation fuel is a key part in business aviation's ambitious plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Read the coalition's letter to USDA.

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About the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel is a coalition of leading international aviation groups. Members include the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA), European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Vertical Aircraft International (VAI), International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). The SAF Coalition's work is supported by a Steering Committee that includes dozens of aviation businesses that represent all points along the SAF supply chain.

More information about SAF and the Coalition is available at futureofsustainablefuel.com.

About NBAA

Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The association represents more than 10,000 company and professional members and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), the world's largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at nbaa.org.

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