EU officials described the agreement as a “turning point” and “one other necessary step” for European aviation, saying the measures were designed to cut back reliance on fossil fuel imports and improve energy security.
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European Union negotiators secured a deal to decarbonize the air travel sector, looking for to slash heat-trapping emissions by stimulating the region’s green aviation fuel market.
The agreement on the so-called ReFuelEU Aviation proposal followed late night talks on Tuesday and was reached by the European Parliament and the Council. It must now be approved by EU countries to grow to be law, which is usually a formality.
The brand new rules are set to require aviation fuel suppliers to provide a minimum share of sustainable aviation fuels — or SAF — at EU airports, starting at 2% of overall fuel supplied by 2025. It will rise to six% by the tip of the last decade, before climbing to 70% by 2050.
The measures also require aircraft operators departing from EU airports to refuel only with the fuel essential for the flight to avoid emissions related to extra weight or so-called “tankering” — when operators deliberately carry excess fuel to avoid refueling with SAF.
Airports, meanwhile, might want to be sure that their infrastructure is fit for purpose in the case of distributing the synthetic jet fuels.
EU officials described the agreement as a “turning point” and “one other necessary step” for European aviation, saying the measures were designed to cut back reliance on fossil fuel imports and improve energy security.
“Fuel suppliers at EU airports must provide an increasing share of sustainable aviation fuels and aircraft operators increase their use,” Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, said in an announcement.
“The EU is prepared for take-off towards a more sustainable future for aviation,” he added.
If aviation is to align itself with the Paris climate accord and curb global heating, the industry might want to move away from fossil fuels completely in the long run. One among the ways in which the sector is looking for to exchange conventional fossil jet fuel is by exploring using SAF.
‘More work to be done’
The green fuels law for aviation comes shortly after the world’s leading climate scientists published a “survival guide for humanity,” calling for a deep, rapid and sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This temperature threshold refers back to the aspirational goal of the landmark Paris Agreement. It’s widely considered an important global goal because so-called tipping points grow to be more likely beyond this level of world heating. Tipping points are thresholds at which small changes can result in dramatic shifts in Earth’s entire life support system.
The International Energy Agency estimated that aviation accounted for over 2% of world energy-related CO2 emissions in 2021, noting the air travel sector has grown faster in recent a long time than road, rail or shipping.
Transport & Environment, a European umbrella group for NGOs, broadly welcomed the EU’s latest green fuels law for aviation.
“This pioneering deal is an unwavering endorsement of the world’s largest green fuel mandate for aviation,” said Matteo Mirolo, aviation policy officer at T&E. “The EU doubled down on synthetic fuels, that are key to decarbonising the sector, and limited using unsustainable biofuels in planes.”
Visitors look out to the airport apron from a viewing terrace, during a one-day strike by security control staff, at Berlin Brandenburg airport in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, April 24, 2023.
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T&E said the targets proposed by the EU include requirements for synthetic fuels, corresponding to e-kerosene, which they are saying are the one variety of SAFs that may sustainably be scaled up to fulfill the fuel demands of the sector.
Negotiators also excluded a few of the most controversial biofuel feedstocks, corresponding to food crops and palm oil by-products, but T&E noted another problematic feedstocks were included and these were neither sustainable nor scalable.
“The ramp-up of SAFs can now start, but there’s more work to be done,” Mirolo said. “Ensuring the success of SAFs would require industrial support policies for synthetic kerosene but additionally stronger safeguards to make sure that no unsustainable biofuels creep into airplane tanks.”
