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Sustainability

An Arc'teryx jacket.
Lifestyle

The Quest to Ban the Best Raincoats in the World

Why Patagonia, REI, and just about every other gear retailer are going PFAS-free.

Climate

AM Briefing: An 800,000-Year High

On the WMO’s latest report, EPA climate grants, and BYD

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Carbon Removal

New Net Zero Standard Leaves Key Carbon Removal Questions Unanswered

The Science Based Targets initiative released long-awaited guidance that doesn’t exactly clarify matters.

Climate

AM Briefing: U.S. Abandons a Key Climate Financing Coalition

On energy transition funds, disappearing butterflies, and Tesla’s stock slump

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A Biodiversity Summit Ended with a Sliver of Good News for Nature

AM Briefing: A Win for Nature

On COP16, NOAA firings, and the Apple Watch

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The Greens Go to Court

AM Briefing: Greens Go to Court

On congestion pricing, carbon capture progress, and Tim Kaine.

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Technology

The Search for a Somewhat Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Money is pouring in — and deadlines are approaching fast.

A plane and oil towers.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

There’s no quick fix for decarbonizing medium- and long-distance flights. Batteries are typically too heavy, and hydrogen fuel takes up too much space to offer a practical solution, leaving sustainable aviation fuels made from plants and other biomass, recycled carbon, or captured carbon as the primary options. Traditionally, this fuel is much more expensive — and the feedstocks for it much more scarce — than conventional petroleum-based jet fuel. But companies are now racing to overcome these barriers, as recent months have seen backers throw hundreds of millions behind a series of emergent, but promising solutions.

Today, most SAF is made of feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal fats, from companies such as Neste and Montana Renewables. But this supply is limited by, well, the amount of cooking oil or fats restaurants and food processing facilities generate, and is thus projected to meet only about 10% of total SAF demand by 2050, according to a 2022 report by the Mission Possible Partnership. Beyond that, companies would have to start growing new crops just to make into fuel.

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