Sustainable Aviation Fuel Working Group
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a diverse class of jet fuel produced from non-petroleum feedstocks. SAF has strategic advantages: its lifecycle emissions can be significantly lower than fossil jet fuel, it can be produced domestically, and it is certified for use in today’s aircrafts. Our sustainable aviation fuel working group convenes leading experts across the aviation ecosystem — including SAF producers, airlines, transportation infrastructure and logistics experts, investors, and corporate buyers of SAF — to advance the production and adoption of SAF. We include all forms of low-carbon SAF, with a particular focus on emerging conversion technologies and advanced feedstocks poised to scale up production.
The SAF industry is in its early stages as global economies position themselves to establish leadership in the market. Commitments set by airlines, energy policies, and business travelers outpace early supply, and the United States is well-positioned to leverage its strengths in energy, agriculture, and technology to lead global production. Despite progress in domestic SAF development, market, technology, and U.S. policy challenges remain barriers to reaching market maturity.
High costs, infrastructure gaps, and policy shortcomings are early deployment barriers. SAF remains more expensive than traditional jet fuel due to the need for advanced feedstock development and scaling up production technologies from the lab to commercial facilities. Limited large-scale demonstration projects and inadequate infrastructure for production and distribution further slow adoption. Lastly, insufficient regulatory incentives and funding make it difficult to attract the investments needed to overcome early-stage challenges.
Policymakers and industry leaders must collaborate to address the core barriers to SAF adoption. A holistic policy framework should prioritize the entire innovation cycle — from research and development to commercial deployment.
- Create a venue for current and prospective SAF producers, airlines, energy providers, transportation infrastructure and logistics experts, investors, and corporate buyers of SAF to convene and identify technology, market, and policy opportunities to support the widespread adoption of a low-carbon fuel mix in the U.S. aviation sector.
- Work with participating companies to educate key decisionmakers on the importance of policies that spur supply and demand for domestically produced SAF.
- Align, to the extent practicable, on a shared vision for a long-term policy approach to support widespread adoption of a low-carbon fuel mix in the U.S. aviation sector and collectively work towards the enactment of those policies.
- Strengthen connectivity and collaboration across the innovation ecosystem.
The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) ecosystem includes a diversity of feedstocks and their production pathways. All production pathways have shared infrastructure needs. Producers are all focused on addressing SAF demand from airlines, who are driven by demand from business, freight, and leisure travel. These offtakers also have shared needs. The entire ecosystem is impacted by government policies and incentives.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Policy Recommendations to Enable a Low-carbon Fuel Mix
The nascency of the SAF market is both a challenge and an opportunity. Jet fuel consumption in the United States reached 25.3 billion gallons in 2023, and only 23 million gallons of that fuel was SAF (a penetration rate of 0.09 percent). Decarbonizing the aviation industry will require accelerating the adoption of SAF. This brief offers a shortlist of four policy recommendations following the inaugural year of the Sustainable Aviation Working Group.
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SAF Tech Working Group identifies four policies needed for takeoff
Global air travel now exceeds pre-pandemic levels and could likely grow an additional 30 percent before the end of the decade. In response to growing demand and rising emissions, global economies across Europe and Asia are looking to gain a foothold in the market for sustainable aviation fuel. Innovation Manager Johanna Wassermann and Low-Carbon Fuels and Transportation Senior Fellow John Holler reflect on a new set of policy priorities for SAF.
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