If we are to decarbonize the aviation industry at the speed required, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) must grow from 0.1 percent of global jet fuel to 10 percent by 2030, implying building 300 SAF plants globally within the next seven years. To meet US climate targets, the Biden administration has set a goal of 3 billion gal/year of SAF capacity by 2030 and 35 billion gal/year by 2050. The United States needs to add SAF capacity at an unprecedented rate. While US policy has fortunately tilted in SAF’s favor with federal and state-level incentives, building the first wave of SAF plants in the United States will nonetheless require project financiers to be flexible and creative.
