What would it take to make aviation green in the EU?

The European Parliament gave the green light on September 13^th to new rules that will increase the quantity of sustainable jet fuel in flights departing from EU airports, marking a major step towards reducing emissions from the notoriously carbon-intensive transport mode. At the behest of the Parliament, an EU label outlining the environmental performance of flights will be created by the European Commission, a move designed to better inform citizens of the climate impact of flying. The law must now gain approval from member states in the Council before entering into force from 1 January 2024. Sean Goulding Carroll discusses this week’s developments in an article on the EURACTIV website.

Remember to read the post this week on  the new discussion note on Sustainable Aviation Fuels.

 

Parliament backs law to boost green aviation fuels in EU flights

The European Parliament gave the green light on Wednesday (13 September) to new rules that will increase the quantity of sustainable jet fuel in flights departing from EU airports, marking a major step towards reducing emissions from the notoriously carbon-intensive transport mode.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly in support of the law at a plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, with 518 votes in favour, 97 votes against and eight abstentions.

Under the new rules, a steadily increasing amount of green jet fuel must be blended with kerosene, with the quantity required rising every 5 years. The legal obligation will start at 2% in 2025, growing to 20% in 2035 and reaching 70% in 2050.

All flights departing from an EU airport will be obliged to refuel using a sustainable aviation fuel and kerosene blend, regardless of whether their destination is inside or outside of the bloc.

Rapporteur José Ramón Bauzá Díaz, a Spanish lawmaker with the centrist Renew group, hailed the passage of the law as a “tremendous step towards the decarbonisation of aviation”.

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are considered the most effective way to reduce emissions from aviation, as clean technologies such as hydrogen-powered and electric jets are not yet commercially mature.

At the behest of the Parliament, an EU label outlining the environmental performance of flights will be created by the European Commission, a move designed to better inform citizens of the climate impact of flying.

Although not mandatory, airlines will reportedly be able to use the label to display the carbon footprint per passenger and expected CO2 efficiency per kilometre, allowing passengers to compare the environmental performance of flights along the same route.

The so-called non-CO2 effects of flying, which are caused by the burning of aromatic and sulphur content in jet fuel, will also be monitored for the first time by the European Commission. The EU executive will table plans to reduce these effects by 2027.

What constitutes a green fuel?

Under the new rules, SAFs will consist of selected second-generation biofuels and electro-fuels made with green electricity. Recycled jet fuels produced from waste gases and waste plastic are also considered green.

Crop-based biofuels are excluded from the SAF mandate due to concerns over land usage.

Given the lower availability of biofuels made from agricultural and forestry residues, such as algae and bio-waste, it is expected that the majority of SAFs will be biofuels from used cooking oil (UCO) and certain animal fats – relatively inexpensive feedstocks that can more easily be refined into green jet fuel.

However, the use of used cooking oil to refine advanced biofuels has proven controversial in recent times, with allegations that Malaysia and Indonesia are fraudulently passing off palm oil – a feedstock restricted in the bloc due to its alleged links with deforestation – as UCO collected from restaurants and households.

To stimulate the uptake of e-fuels, which are currently available in extremely limited quantities and thus highly expensive, lawmakers additionally approved a synthetic fuel sub-mandate: By 2030, e-fuels must constitute 1.2% of the fuel mix, progressively reaching 35% in 2050.

Reactions

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), a trade association representing European biofuel producers, criticised the restricted definition of SAFs contained in the law.

“Unfortunately, the SAF definition remains arbitrarily narrow, unjustifiably excluding the use of sustainable crop-based biofuels from this sector,” said André Paula Santos, head of EU Policy for EBB, adding that biofuels are “the only market-ready alternative to fossil kerosene”.

Greens MEP Ciarán Cuffe welcomed the passage of the law, saying that the regulation puts the onus on the aviation industry to reduce their emissions for the first time in decades.

“Sustained industry pressure to quash measures that challenge their polluting business model means that  greening aviation is so much harder today. This new law, however, marks an important point of departure from the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels,” he said in a statement.

However, the Irish MEP warned that there is still “a long way to go before flying becomes a more sustainable travel option”.

Matteo Mirolo, aviation manager with the green NGO Transport & Environment, warned that a steady supply of SAF was yet to be secured.

“At the current predicted rates of growth of the industry, producing enough green fuels to feed all these flights is unrealistic. The amount of renewable energy required will be immense,” he said.

“If green fuels are really to have a future in Europe, growth rates must be managed, otherwise SAFs risk becoming an endless drain of precious green energy,” he added.

In a joint statement, major aviation organisations including representatives of airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers called for further EU incentives to scale up SAF production in Europe.

The law must now gain approval from member states in the Council before entering into force from 1 January 2024.

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