6 September 2022: European aviation associations – ACI EUROPE, A4E, CANSO and ERA – have sent an open letter to Fit for 55 interinstitutional negotiators to emphasise the need for several adjustments to the ReFuel EU and EU ETS aviation proposals, which are critical for the European aviation industry.

It is of high importance to have the necessary policy measures in place to help European air transport meet its decarbonisation commitment while allowing it to deliver social and economic benefits that are valued by European citizens and essential to the sustainable economic development of the continent.

The proposed policies can therefore be further refined by including appropriate remedies to mitigate against the risk of having Europe and its citizens affected by downgraded air connectivity, while remaining uncompromising on the acceleration of the decarbonisation ambition.

ACI EUROPE, A4E, CANSO and ERA ask to support the following proposed measures in the upcoming trilogues negotiations:

• Provide for a European single market for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), through the setting of a European mandate for SAF that should supersede national mandates and harmonise all relevant legislation.
• Further incentivisation and financial support for the uptake of SAF through a ‘SAF allowance mechanism’ under the EU ETS. The amount of allowances (maximum of 20 million) should be reviewed as it would penalize remote and island regions of the EU and member states that rely on air connectivity.
• Provide a strict definition of SAF. We urge policymakers not to expand the eligibility criteria to include non-sustainable feedstock and to keep the definition of SAF as proposed by the European Commission.
• Introduce a flexibility mechanism in the physical SAF supply chain.
• Allocate revenues for aviation decarbonisation. Proposals to create a ’Sustainable Aviation Fund’ funded not only with the penalties under ReFuel EU, but also with the revenues generated from the auctioning of allowances should be supported.
• Conduct further research for evidence of the effects of non-CO2 emissions. We recommend further grasp scientific evidence through additional studies and investigations before setting a requirement to include non-CO2 emissions within ETS.

The letter can be downloaded from the top of this page.