TagSustainable Aviation Fuels(76)

This October 2022 FAA presentation by Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor Dr. Jim Hileman outlines the agency's efforts to advance Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) as a key strategy for reducing aviation's carbon footprint. SAF are 'drop-in' fuels compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure, capable of significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions across their full lifecycle—from feedstock production to combustion. The FAA supports multiple approved SAF production pathways and works with federal partners and international bodies to scale up SAF use as part of broader aviation decarbonization goals.

This July 2022 report from the Mission Possible Partnership outlines a global strategy for reducing aviation's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, in line with the 1.5°C climate target. It identifies key milestones, technologies, and investments needed across the aviation value chain, including sustainable aviation fuels and new propulsion systems. The strategy is intended to guide airlines, policymakers, and financial institutions in taking coordinated action this decade.

This March 2022 FAA presentation to the REDAC Energy & Environment Subcommittee provides an overview of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), highlighting both opportunities—such as drop-in compatibility with existing aircraft and infrastructure, and the potential to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions—and challenges including high production costs, limited incentives, and blend limits capped at 50%. The FAA's SAF program focuses on three areas: testing and accelerating fuel development, analyzing environmental and economic sustainability, and coordinating with public-private partnerships and international bodies like ICAO. While primarily focused on aviation decarbonization broadly, the program's emissions-reduction goals have indirect relevance to noise and environmental policy discussions at major airports like Sea-Tac.

This document from 350 Seattle argues that alternative aviation fuels (AAFs), often marketed as 'sustainable aviation fuels' or SAFs, are largely a greenwashing tactic by the aviation industry and cannot meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially as flight volumes continue to grow. It highlights that planes burning AAFs still emit carbon just like conventional jet fuel, and that scaling up AAF production raises serious equity concerns, including health impacts on low-income communities and people of color living near Sea-Tac Airport and under flight paths. 350 Seattle instead calls for an emissions cap on aviation, a halt to airport expansion, and investment in true zero-emission solutions.