The Department of Energy has updated websites related to sustainable aviation fuel, changing the name to synthetic aviation fuel.
Pages on the federal government’s SAF Grand Challenge were also updated to reflect the new name. The challenge is a multi-agency effort by DOE, the Department of Transportation and USDA. The grand challenge sets a goal of 3 billion gallons per year of domestic SAF production by 2030 and 35 billion gallons by 2050.
Apart from the name, it appears little has changed in the actual substance of what the federal government considers a synthetic aviation fuel. The new DOE page on synthetic aviation fuel notes that the alternative source can reduce airline emissions from flights, and includes a list of feedstocks for producing SAF. That menu still includes key sources like corn grain, oilseeds, algae, agricultural and forestry residues and more.
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The move follows a larger push by the Trump administration to remove some climate-related initiatives from agency websites and halt funds for climate measures.
In January, USDA and other agencies began removing some climate-related content from websites. This included information from the Natural Resources Conservation Service page on climate-smart mitigation activities.
Early in the Trump administration, the White House ordered agencies to review programs to ensure they are in compliance with efforts to rid the government of “green new deal” spending. This has also been accompanied by funding freezes for climate-related programs like the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities and USDA conservation programs.
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