AP FACT CHECK: Biden's half-baked goal for cleaner jet fuel

DALLAS (AP) — President Joe Biden and his team are promoting an agreement reached with the U.S. airline industry to cut aircraft greenhouse-gas emissions 20% by decade's end, but the deal might not fly.

In an announcement Thursday, the White House unveiled an array of measures to reduce climate-changing emissions. The administration is also setting a goal of replacing all of today's kerosene-based jet fuel with cleaner or “sustainable” fuel by 2050.

Climate experts say that while the effort is laudable, the administration's approach is aspirational and unrealistic. The targets are voluntary, and robust government support will be needed to offset the higher cost of sustainable fuel — up to three times more than regular fuel.

Airlines in fact have talked up sustainable jet fuel for years and even made small investments in it, but it may prove to be a vision beyond Biden's promised reach. Airline executives have expressed concern in particular that “flight shaming” — famously advocated by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg — could catch on in the U.S. if the companies are seen as uncaring about the environment.

WHITE HOUSE, touting Biden's steps to involve the government, aircraft makers, airlines and fuel suppliers to boost the use of cleaner fuels: The measures “will result in the production and use of billions of gallons of sustainable fuel that will enable aviation emissions to drop 20% by 2030 when compared to business as usual.”

THE FACTS: That's a giant step that will be highly difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

Only 2.4 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, were produced in the United States in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In contrast, airlines burned 21.5 billion gallons of regular fuel that year. That means just...