Push to make air travel green
Sustainable jet fuel vastly cuts carbon emissions; its cost is a barrier, but that may change
A flurry of investments, policy changes and technological breakthroughs is giving a jolt of energy to the nascent market for sustainable aviation fuel, a low-carbon alternative to traditional jet fuel made from crude oil.
United Airlines and other companies started a $100 million venture capital fund on Tuesday to invest in the technology.
Boeing said last week that it was doubling its use of sustainable fuel this year. New laws in Europe and the United States are designed to spur investment in the market. And after years of false starts, a handful of startups are receiving an influx of funding and expanding operations.
Sustainable aviation fuel is made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste. It produces up to 80% fewer planet-warming emissions than conventional jet fuel, according to some estimates. It is currently blended with fossil jet fuel, but the hope is that planes could eventually be powered exclusively with the alternative fuel.
Sustainable jet fuel is seen by many as the most promising way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector, which contributes more than 2% to global emissions each year, according to the International Energy Agency.
But today, almost no flights are powered by sustainable fuel because of supply and cost. Sustainable fuel can be as much as three times as expensive as conventional fuel. Even at United, the largest consumer of sustainable fuel in the United States, it accounted for less than 1% of its total fuel consumption last year.
Scott Kirby, United’s chief executive, wants his airline to be a leader in sustainable fuels. His reasons, he said, are twofold: He believes that’s where the industry is headed, and he’s eager to play a role in reducing global emissions.
“The implications are so dramatic, and there are all these tipping points that once you hit them they’re effectively irreversible,” he said.
Making sustainable aviation fuel mainstream will be difficult and costly. Such fuels “are currently at various stages of technology readiness, and the scaling of production and deployment faces major technological and economic hurdles,” according to a recent report by the Rhodium Group, an energy sector consulting group.
Only two companies make sustainable aviation fuel at scale for the major airlines. World Energy, a U.S. company, has a plant in Los Angeles and is building a new factory in Houston. Neste, a Finnish oil company, produces sustainable jet fuel in Europe.
Others companies are racing to catch up. LanzaTech, based in Chicago, went public this month on the Nasdaq and is valued at nearly $1 billion. The company is building a factory in Georgia where it plans to produce sustainable fuel using ethanol.
Gevo, a startup based in Denver that is also making sustainable aviation fuel from ethanol, broke ground last year on a plant in South Dakota.
New laws and policy efforts are also giving the industry momentum.
The European Commission has proposed that by 2025 at least 2% of jet fuel in use be made from sustainable sources. By 2050, that figure would rise to more than 60%.
The Inflation Reduction Act — President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation, which Congress passed last year — includes tax credits for cleaner jet fuel.