The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel

A policy brief by the World Resources Institute arguing that the United States should shift its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) strategy away from food and feed crops to avoid increasing food prices and environmental degradation, focusing instead on waste biomass, captured carbon, and clean hydrogen.

• Domestic aviation emissions account for 3% of annual US greenhouse gas output and are projected to grow by 2–3% annually until midcentury if no corrective action is taken. While ground transportation emissions are expected to fall due to electrification and efficiency, aircraft efficiency gains are insufficient to offset the growth in air travel.
• The current primary methods for producing alternative jet fuel in the US involve diverting corn and soybeans from food and feed markets, which results in higher food prices, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and emissions caused by land-use change.
• To avoid the conflict between food and fuel production, the author recommends that federal and state support prioritize SAF feedstocks such as waste biomass, clean hydrogen, and carbon captured from the atmosphere. Specific recommended technologies include electrofuels (e-fuels), Fischer-Tropsch fuel synthesis, and biomass gasification.
• The brief proposes three key policy actions: Congress should deny tax credits to aviation fuels made from food or feed crops; California and similar states should cap and phase out credits for such fuels while updating carbon intensity calculations; and government targets should prioritize non-food feedstocks and allow credits for permanently sequestered carbon.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel. https://www.wri.org/research/united-states-should-not-turn-food-aviation-fuel

Chicago

World Resources Institute. The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/united-states-should-not-turn-food-aviation-fuel.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel |url=https://www.wri.org/research/united-states-should-not-turn-food-aviation-fuel |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendunited, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/united-states-should-not-turn-food-aviation-fuel}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }