EU agrees to the ‘world’s largest green fuels mandate’

European Union negotiators have reached an agreement to decarbonise the air travel sector, in search of to cut back heat-trapping emissions by stimulating a marketplace for green jet fuel within the region.

The agreement on the so-called ReFuelEU Aviation proposal, following late night talks on Tuesday reached by the European Parliament and the Council. It now must be approved by EU countries to grow to be law, which is frequently a formality.

The recent rules oblige jet fuel suppliers to provide a minimum share of sustainable aviation fuels – or SAF – at EU airports, starting at 2% of total fuel delivered by 2025. This share will rise to six% by the top of the last decade. before rising to 70% by 2050.

The measures also require operators of aircraft departing from EU airports to only refuel with the fuel vital for the flight to avoid chubby or so-called ‘chubby’ emissions.

In the meantime, airports might want to be sure that their infrastructure is fit for purpose on the subject of distributing synthetic jet fuels.

EU officials described the deal as a “turning point” and “one other necessary step” for European aviation, saying the measures aim to cut back dependence on fossil fuel imports and improve energy security.

“EU airport fuel suppliers need to supply an increasing share of sustainable aviation fuels, and aircraft operators are increasing their use,” Frans Timmermans, executive vp of the European Green Deal, said in an announcement.

“The EU is able to take off towards a more sustainable future for aviation,” he added.

If aviation is to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement and limit global warming, the industry can have to maneuver completely away from fossil fuels in the long run. One way the sector is in search of to switch conventional fossil fuels for jet engines is to explore the usage of SAF.

The green fuels for aviation law comes shortly after the world’s leading climate scientists released a “survival guide for humanity” calling for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This temperature threshold corresponds to the aspirational goal of the landmark Paris Agreement. It is widely considered a key global goal as so-called tipping points grow to be more likely beyond this level of worldwide warming. Tipping points are thresholds at which small changes can result in dramatic changes in the whole life support system on Earth.

The International Energy Agency has estimated that aviation accounts for greater than 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2021, noting that the air travel sector has grown faster than road, rail and sea transport in recent many years.

Transport & Environment, a European NGO group, generally welcome recent EU rules on green fuels for aviation.

“This pioneering agreement is an unwavering endorsement of the world’s largest mandate on green fuels for aviation,” said Matteo Mirolo, aviation policy officer at T&E. “The EU has doubled the quantity of synthetic fuels which can be key to decarbonising the sector and reduced the usage of unsustainable biofuels in aircraft.”

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 kind of SAF that will be sustainably increased to satisfy the sector’s fuel needs.

The negotiators also excluded among the most controversial biofuel feedstocks, corresponding to food crops and palm oil by-products, but T&E noted that several other problematic feedstocks that were neither sustainable nor scalable were included.

“Development of the SAF can now begin, but there continues to be a protracted technique to go,” said Mirolo. “Ensuring SAF’s success would require an industrial policy of support for synthetic kerosene, but additionally stronger safeguards to be sure that no unsustainable biofuels find yourself in aircraft tanks.”