Clean aviation fuels check the boxes for agriculture, for America

Opinion: US-grown crops can power passenger jets with widespread benefits; officials in Washington can facilitate the transition, writes Kirk Leeds.

Thanks to American innovation, we have the technology, sustainable feedstocks, and entrepreneurial spirit to build a world-leading clean aviation industry right here at home.

With the drums of war beating again in the Middle East, America faces a pressing need to secure stable, affordable fuel supplies that do not make us dependent on dictators and volatile foreign crude oil. Yet ample opportunities remain untapped in our own heartland. Advanced biofuels offer a path to build robust clean energy industries that strengthen our farmers, create jobs, and safeguard our energy security.

Now is the time to build support for rapidly scaling one solution in particular: clean aviation fuels (CAF), which encompass the entire universe of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from US-grown crops, agricultural coproducts, and other renewable feedstocks, as well as captured carbon and hydrogen. Biomass-based SAF is the best decarbonization lever the aviation industry has right now on its journey to net zero, predominately because SAF can be used in current aircraft engines and because the infrastructure in the U.S. already exists to transport large amounts of it. Powering passenger jets with homegrown SAF rather than imported fossil jet fuel checks all the boxes for an America-first energy strategy.