Airplane in flight with blue sky and clouds in background.

How the right tax policy makes sustainable aviation fuels work

Aircraft emissions are one of our largest sources of climate pollution. That’s why last year’s Inflation Reduction Act included tax credits to purchase sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

The challenge is that not all SAF are created equal — and without the right federal safeguards, some fuels could make our climate worse or release cancer-causing toxins. Irreplaceable forests could be wiped out, vulnerable communities threatened, and the ecosystems we all depend on put in danger.

As federal policymakers prepare to update the rules around these tax credits, it’s critical that they include these safeguards — and say no to dangerous shortcuts that would ignore climate science and squander taxpayer dollars on low- integrity fuels.

Crucial safeguards for a vital earth

Download our recommendations to help policy makers avoid these problematic approaches:

  1. No to certification standards that lack robust safeguards.
  2. No to rewarding any alternative aviation fuel that relies heavily on fossil fuel inputs.
  3. No to giving credit for soil carbon sequestration yet.
  4. No to lower emissions values when modeling the impact on the world’s forests.
  5. No to spreading emissions associated with deforestation over longer stretches of time.
  6. No to indirect accounting systems for offsetting the environmental impacts of feedstocks and energy inputs.
  7. No to spreading larger emissions on coproducts to artificially appear lower carbon.

Download our recommendations

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Debora Schneider

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