Explore the controversial GOP bill fueling the debate around farm-grown jet fuels. This legislation, supported by agricultural interests, is under fire for perhaps greenwashing enduring aviation fuel (SAF) while overlooking critical climate factors. the focus on biofuels, with tax credits extending to 2031, raises serious questions: Are these fuels a genuine environmental solution, or do they exacerbate issues like deforestation and inflated food costs? using crops for jet fuel could drive up costs and increase emissions. News Directory 3 unpacks the details, including the exclusion of land-use emissions concerns. Discover what’s next for sustainable aviation.
Farm-Grown Jet Fuels: A False Climate Solution?
Updated June 08, 2025
A Republican-backed bill is under scrutiny for possibly undermining clean energy incentives while heavily supporting farm-grown jet fuels. While the aviation industry aims to reduce emissions using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), concerns arise about the true environmental impact of biofuels.
Critics argue that using crops like corn and soybeans for fuel production drives up food costs and encourages deforestation as farmers seek new land. This makes farm-grown biofuels a questionable solution for reducing emissions in planes, mirroring similar issues seen with biofuels in cars.
The proposed bill extends tax credits for SAF until 2031 but prohibits considering land-use emissions when assessing sustainability. This omission, some say, is akin to ignoring smokestack emissions from power plants. The biofuels provision could cost taxpayers an additional $45 billion.
Using vegetable oils for a quarter of global aviation fuel would require 40% of global cropland—an area twice the size of India, according to one expert.
The push for biofuels is largely driven by agricultural interests seeking new markets as electric vehicles reduce demand for corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. The biofuels provision is included in the bill’s section focused on rural advancement, highlighting its primary purpose.
While the bill lacks overall Democratic support,the biofuels carve-out has backing from farm-friendly Democrats who initially created SAF tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This reflects a long-standing bipartisan support for corn ethanol mandates.
Dan Lashof, a climate scientist at the World Resources Institute, notes the powerful agricultural lobby’s influence, enabling increased spending on initiatives that may increase emissions despite broader efforts to cut them.
An analysis by the American Enterprise Institute suggests that producing 10% of U.S. jet fuel from SAF by 2030 would require half the U.S. soybean crop, utilizing farmland equivalent to the size of Nebraska.
Tim Searchinger, a Princeton researcher, estimates that using vegetable oils for a quarter of global aviation fuel would require 40% of global cropland, an area twice the size of india. Corn ethanol is notably inefficient, requiring 1.7 gallons of ethanol to produce one gallon of jet fuel, with ethanol production consuming nearly as much fossil fuel as it replaces.
The EU excludes crop-based fuels for aviation due to devastating land-use effects.Despite this, the U.S. farm lobby has actively worked to prevent similar restrictions in the United States.
Virgin Atlantic
Currently, only 0.3% of global aviation fuel is classified as sustainable, primarily from recycled cooking oil. Alternatives like green hydrogen, pongamia oil, and electricity for short-haul flights are also being explored.
Airlines, along with farm interests, are advocating for extending the SAF credit and easing qualification requirements for farm-grown SAF. Critics argue that the Biden governance has already minimized the role of indirect land-use change in emissions analyses.
Industry lobbyists successfully pushed for the exclusion of emissions attributed to indirect land-use change in the bill, a move likened to ignoring a bank’s debts when assessing solvency.
One environmentalist likened a GOP provision that would disregard land-use life cycles in emissions calculations to a legislative decree that pi equals nine.
Dan Blaustein-Rejto of the Breakthrough Institute expresses concern about the potential for this legislation to boost SAF production and benefit farmers without necessarily being beneficial for the surroundings.
Despite efforts to reclassify it, using farmland for fuel still leads to farmland expansion for food production. the ban on evaluating indirect land-use change could affect airlines seeking carbon credits, as organizations like the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance prioritize scientific credibility.
The biofuels lobby’s influence in Washington is evident, with both the Biden and Trump administrations supporting increased ethanol blending. Overcoming this influence on issues like indirect land-use change assessment remains a challenge.
“It’s hard to build a constituency for addressing an issue that seems so technical,” says Lashof.
What’s next
The debate surrounding sustainable aviation fuel and its true environmental impact is expected to continue, with ongoing discussions about land-use change and the role of biofuels in reducing aviation emissions.
