UC Davis researchers say scaling SAF production could risk crop supplies

In California, the Biden administration’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge could launch the most important national-level biofuel policy of the next decade. Stakeholders and regulators are pressuring airlines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, commercially viable battery and fuel-cell airplanes do not exist yet because the energy needs of commercial flights far exceed current technology. Hence, airlines and policymakers are turning toward alternative liquid fuels that claim to have lower emissions than petroleum jet fuel.

However, a new report from UC Davis researchers says scaling production by increasing acreage is a major concern for many policymakers and environmentalists. The increased demand for corn from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) encouraged farmers to shift millions of acres from the Conservation Reserve Program to corn and soybean production. The land-use changes driven by the RFS had significant adverse emissions impacts and raised substantive concerns about the emissions benefits of ethanol and other biofuels. Moreover, increasing demand for biofuels reduces the land available to grow food for human and livestock consumption. For these reasons, ethanol plants may need to lower their emissions to qualify for SAF credits.