Reports of Brazil positioning itself as a global supplier for sustainable aviation fuels ring true for Matthew Kruse, president of Commstock Investments.

Kruse, who farms in Iowa and Brazil, sees this as a natural expansion of the country’s current position.

“Brazil does have a long history with ethanol,” Kruse says. “Brazil actually has a lower carbon emission footprint than a comparable ethanol plant here in the United States. A lot of that's because they're self-sufficient in their energy needs.”

Brazil’s carbon footprint for SAF is lower they use bagasse, a fibrous sugarcane residue, to create electricity. Ethanol plants in the U.S. use natural gas in their process.

It’s a frustrating situation for biofuel leaders in the U.S. who are waiting for the federal government to act on this opportunity. Section 45Z of the Inflation Reduction Act provides a tax credit for the domestic production of clean transportation fuels. Fuel producers must be registered on or before Jan. 1, 2025, to qualify for the Section 45Z credit and be eligible to claim the credit for production starting Jan. 1. However, a final policy hasn’t been issued.

“We're waiting for our government to finalize the policy related to 45Z. We're waiting for these carbon pipelines to be established, which would make us competitive, and until they do so, we're not competitive with what's going on in Brazil,” Kruse says.

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Brazil, however, is moving at the speed of sustainably produced steam.

“They're actually actively announcing investments to kind of make this happen and to kind of become the world's global premier provider of SAF fuels,” Kruse says.

In related news, Brazil is also rapidly planting it’s 2025 crops.

“They're caught up now to their three-year historical average,” Kruse says. “If they keep this up, they'll actually finish ahead of schedule.”

“There's a lot of growing season left, but we're not really seeing any stress in the production there in Brazil.”