Biden, airlines strike deal to cut carbon emissions

President Biden today signed a deal with major US airlines to cut aircraft greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the end of decades.

The agreement is part of a wider series of inter-agency actions the government is taking to decarbonise the aviation sector and the economy by 2050. Transportation is the largest source of global warming pollution in the United States, and aviation accounts for 11% of those emissions.

This transformation to a zero-carbon aviation sector requires coordinated innovation and leadership from the federal government, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, fuel producers and airports, the government said in its announcement.

Members of Airlines for America, an industrial trade group, have pledged to rapidly expand the production and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), making 3 billion gallons of SAF available in the United States by 2030. SAF is made from raw materials such as used cooking oil and animal fat and has lower life cycle emissions than fossil jet fuel.

Members of the airline group include Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines.

President Biden has instructed the Departments of Energy, Transport and Agriculture to work with industry to reduce costs and expand the availability of SAF to reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared to conventional ones. fuels. USDA will also work with farmers to scale up their production of SAF ingredients.

The administration has instructed EPA and DOE to work together to expedite regulatory approval of new feedstocks that can be used to produce more sustainable fuels.

And the Federal Aviation Administration will award 14 grants totaling $3.6 million to support SAF evaluation testing. NASA and the Department of Defense will also initiate research and development efforts, among other federal actions.

Today’s announcement comes as aviation industry stakeholders offer new emissions reduction commitments.

United Airlines and Honeywell have announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels to produce SAF on a large scale. United agreed to buy 1.5 billion gallons of SAF in 20 years, the largest deal to date.

American Airlines has announced plans to purchase 10 million gallons of SAF from Prometheus Fuels by 2025.

JetBlue is committed to developing electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft by partnering with Joby Aviation and Universal Hydrogen.

And Chevron Corp. and the renewable energy company Gevo Inc. today announced a joint investment in building and operating at least one SAF facility, among other recent announcements.

The White House said today’s announcement builds on the president’s proposed SAF tax credit, which is expected to be included in the massive spending bill making its way through Congress.

The tax credit, considered key to making the fuel economically viable, would require at least a 50% reduction in life cycle GHG emissions and provide more incentives for greater reductions.