A business aviation coalition has called on the Biden administration to follow the approach the government uses for existing biofuel programmes 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 US 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 US 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 programmes as it develops its rule detailing how companies should quantify, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions associated with SAF production. It says: “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.”

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

When finalised, the greenhouse gas rules will impact on 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.