White House Coordinates Efforts of Departments of Energy, Transportation, and Agriculture to Meet the Grand Challenge: Reduce Aviation Carbon Footprint by 50 Percent by 2050
September 13 2021 - 8:00AM
Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is pleased to share the news that the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
entered into memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining the
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge (the Grand Challenge).
The Grand Challenge spells out action steps to reduce the cost,
enhance the sustainability, and expand the production and use of
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) that achieves a minimum of a 50
percent reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) compared to
conventional fuel to meet a goal of supplying sufficient SAF to
meet 100 percent of aviation fuel demand by 2050.
Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm of the DOE, Secretary Pete
Buttigieg of the DOT, and Secretary Tom Vilsack of the USDA, along
with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and the Department of Defense
represented by Secretary Frank Kendall III of the Air Force, all
participated in the roundtable to discuss the details of the Grand
Challenge. The MOU states that, “increased production of SAF will
play a critical role in a broader set of actions by the United
States Government and the private sector to reduce the aviation
sector's emissions in a manner consistent with the goal of netzero
emissions for our economy, and to put the aviation sector on a
pathway to full decarbonization by 2050. In recognition of the
critical role that drop-in synthesized hydrocarbon fuels from waste
streams, renewable energy sources, or gaseous carbon oxides—or
SAF—will play in addressing our climate change crisis and its role
for jobs and the economy, the Parties undertake this MOU to ensure
the highest level of collaboration and coordination across our
Agencies.”
Dr. Patrick Gruber, chief executive officer of Gevo, shared his
thoughts at a virtual White House Roundtable to discuss the future
of SAF, along with other industry leaders. As a near-term goal,
government and aviation stakeholders pledged to try to achieve 3
billion gallons of SAF production and reduce aviation-related
emissions by 20 percent by 2030.
“This is an exciting time for our industry,” Gruber said. “We
are both honored and thankful to have been included in this
collaborative event. Through Gevo’s current off-take agreements
with Delta Airlines, Trafigura, Haltermann Carless, Air Total, and
SAS, as well as the proposed collaboration with Chevron, we are
ready to take on the Grand Challenge, and are already approaching a
potential combined off-take of 250 million gallons per year of
advanced hydrocarbon products, which include SAF.”
According to the MOU, “The activities underlying this MOU
represent an investment in America that not only reduces our
environmental impact, but also supports energy independence and
creates jobs in agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, research and
development and other areas where America already excels at
production. This MOU also supports a just transition of the energy
industry to a low carbon future. Environmental responsibility,
equity and economic sensibility go hand in hand with this
effort.”
“The Grand Challenge is a roadmap to a future that allows
transportation growth to continue while flattening related carbon
emissions,” says Gruber. “It’s only through this type of
cross-discipline effort that the effects are multiplied. Our
Net-Zero 1 Project is expected to be the first of its kind to be
convert renewable energy into SAF and other energy-dense, liquid
hydrocarbons and we don’t expect to stop there. Our vision is to
reach a billion gallons by 2030, which will require additional
facilities with the potential to achieve net-zero GHG emissions
across the lifecycle of the fuel.”
For agricultural based feedstocks, Gevo believes in working with
farmers as partners, to encourage sustainable farming and
regenerative agriculture and were delighted to hear Secretary
Vilsack’s thoughts about agriculture. Secretary Vilsack said during
the event, “USDA and American agriculture will make sustainable
aviation possible in concert with our federal and industry partners
and their stakeholders. We can expand our ability to power the
nation’s aviation sector with fuel grown right here at home by
hard-working Americans, while creating economic opportunity for
American farmers, business owners and rural communities.
Participating in SAF supply chains is also a big win for the
aviation business, consumers and the planet.”
In addition to Gevo’s approach to utilizing sustainable field
corn as a feedstock for producing SAF and renewable gasoline, Gevo
also believes in the technology to utilize cellulosic feedstock,
such as wood residues.Gevo believes that the U.S. Department of
Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory model utilizes the most
up to date, scientific carbon accounting. Argonne GREET is the
premier science-based life cycle inventory model for determining
GHGs and other sustainability attributes across the life cycle of a
fuel. Gevo believes that by rewarding farmers to improve their
agricultural practices, by capturing carbon, by reducing run-off,
and by producing large amounts of protein, Gevo can address several
problems at once. Gevo believes it is possible to make this world a
better place, with better nutrition, while eliminating fossil based
GHGs.A link to the White House fact sheet can be found here.
About Gevo
Gevo’s mission is to transform renewable energy and carbon into
energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons. These liquid hydrocarbons can be
used for drop-in transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel
and diesel fuel, that when burned have potential to yield net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions when measured across the full life cycle
of the products. Gevo uses low-carbon renewable resource-based
carbohydrates as raw materials, and is in an advanced state of
developing renewable electricity and renewable natural gas for use
in production processes, resulting in low-carbon fuels with
substantially reduced carbon intensity (the level of greenhouse gas
emissions compared to standard petroleum fossil-based fuels across
their life cycle). Gevo’s products perform as well or better than
traditional fossil-based fuels in infrastructure and engines, but
with substantially reduced greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to
addressing the problems of fuels, Gevo’s technology also enables
certain plastics, such as polyester, to be made with more
sustainable ingredients. Gevo’s ability to penetrate the growing
low-carbon fuels market depends on the price of oil and the value
of abating carbon emissions that would otherwise increase
greenhouse gas emissions. Gevo believes that its proven, patented
technology enabling the use of a variety of low-carbon sustainable
feedstocks to produce price-competitive low-carbon products such as
gasoline components, jet fuel and diesel fuel yields the potential
to generate project and corporate returns that justify the
build-out of a multi-billion-dollar business.
Gevo believes that the Argonne National Laboratory GREET model
is the best available standard of scientific-based measurement for
life cycle inventory or LCI.
Learn more at Gevo’s website: www.gevo.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements relate to a variety of matters, without limitation,
including Gevo’s technology, the White House fact sheet and virtual
roundtable, the production of SAF, the attributes of Gevo’s
products, and other statements that are not purely statements of
historical fact. These forward-looking statements are made on the
basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the
management of Gevo and are subject to significant risks and
uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Gevo
undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Although Gevo believes that the expectations reflected in these
forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve
many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these
forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks
relating to the business of Gevo in general, see the risk
disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year
ended December 31, 2020, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q
and 8-K and other filings made with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission by Gevo.
Investor and Media Contact+1
720-647-9605IR@gevo.com
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