by Cathy Buyck (AIN Online) If all goes according to plan and no unforeseen eleventh-hour hiccups surface, the European Union will introduce legislation mandating the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for flights within and departing the bloc. A deal on the ReFuelEU Aviation proposal, agreed upon at the end of April after lengthy and often tense negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, mandates that as of 2025, SAF must account for at least 2 percent of aviation fuels. This minimum increases every five years, to 6 percent in 2030, 20 percent in 2035, 34 percent in 2040, 42 percent in 2045, and 70 percent in 2050.
A specific proportion of the fuel mix—1.2 percent in 2030, 2 percent in 2032, 5 percent in 2035 and progressively reaching 35 percent in 2050—must consist of synthetic low-carbon aviation fuels like e-fuels or e-SAF using power-to-liquid (PtL) technology.
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According to IATA estimates, fulfilling the ReFuelEU mandate would require slightly less than 1 million tonnes of SAF (around 1.25 billion liters) in 2025, for a total jet fuel uplift of slightly less than 50 million tonnes.
Whether SAF production capacity in the EU will cover the increasing mandate requirements remains unclear, however. “It is possible that SAF may be imported from other markets, but we do not know yet,” IATA told Paris Airshow News. Research indicates that producers plan about 59 new bio-refineries in Europe, with various dates to come online and no visibility of how much SAF will account for the output; typically, SAF represents 30 percent of output from a bio-refinery. “This is why incentives are needed to make sure that SAF can compete with biodiesel,” IATA stressed.
ReFuelEU is a key pillar of the EU’s Fit for 55 legislative package to reduce the bloc’s net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels and to achieve climate neutrality in 2050. The Commission projects that the ReFuelEU measure on its own will reduce aircraft CO2 emissions by around two-thirds by 2050 compared with a “no action” scenario.
Under the new rules, the share of SAF that the legislation requires producers to blend with fossil kerosene is binding throughout the EU and it disallows member states from setting higher or lower mandates, a decision welcomed by Airlines for Europe. “The single EU-wide mandate for SAF will prevent fragmentation of the EU’s single market for aviation through differing national targets in different member states,” the Brussels-based trade body of European airlines noted.
BRIDGING THE GAP
The upcoming legislation puts the obligation to provide SAF with the fuel suppliers, and not with the airlines directly. As drafted, fuel suppliers must provide SAF at all EU airports that handle more than 1 million passengers annually, while airports must ensure the availability of fuel infrastructure “fit for SAF distribution.”
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Not all airports are connected to pipelines or have otherwise easy access to SAF, so bringing it to them would be inefficient. “At a minimum, it is essential that a book-and-claim system be established to create a flexible market for SAF across the EU,” Clifford (International Air Transport Association (IATA) deputy director general, Conrad Clifford) maintained. READ MORE
