WASHINGTON, DC, US — US biofuel and farm advocates are calling on the Biden administration to resolve issues standing in the way of scaling up production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The group has urged the administration to adopt the US Department of Energy’s GREET model for the calculation of SAF tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, completing a process that was scheduled to be done by March 1.

“We are disappointed that the administration did not fulfill its commitment to release a modified GREET model by March 1, but we appreciate the importance of getting the modeling right,” wrote 26 organizations across 13 states, including Clean Fuels Alliance America, Growth Energy, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Farmers Union, the National Oilseed Processors Association and the Renewable Fuels Association. “At the same time, we caution against contradictory changes to GREET that would stack unwarranted penalties on agricultural feedstocks, cut rural America out of a promising green energy market, and undermine any realistic path to achieving US SAF goals.”

SAFs are renewable fuels with similar properties to conventional jet fuel but with a smaller carbon footprint. So far, all SAFs approved for commercial use have been derived from biological feedstocks. They are approved for blending with conventional jet fuel at rates up to 50%.

SAF advocates emphasized the availability of well-established methodologies for certifying climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices, in contrast to speculative and unverifiable penalties for indirect land use change (ILUC) favored by opponents of US agriculture.