Updates on Refuel EU Aviation

8 July 2022: The European Parliament adopted its position on ReFuel EU Aviation.

On 7 July, the European Parliament adopted its position on the Refuel EU Aviation initiative. The position is very similar to the TRAN Committee’s position.

• MEPs increased the Commission’s original proposal for the minimum share of a sustainable aviation fuel that should be made available at EU airports. From 2025, this share should be 2%, increasing to 37% in 2040 and 85% by 2050.
• MEPs amended the proposed definition of sustainable aviation fuel, a term that covers synthetic fuels or certain biofuels, produced from agricultural or forestry residues, algae, bio-waste or used cooking oil. It excludes feed and food crop-based fuels.
• Electricity and hydrogen should be part of new fuel mix.
• The EP supports the creation of a Sustainable Aviation Fund from 2023 to 2050 to accelerate the decarbonisation of the aviation sector and support investment in sustainable aviation fuels, innovative aircraft propulsion technologies, or research for new engines. The fund would be topped up by penalties generated by the enforcement of these rules.
• The EP also tasked the EC with the development of the environmental label by 2024.

Next steps
Trilogues may now start.

28 June 2022: On 27 June, the TRAN Committee adopted its position on the Refuel EU Aviation initiative.

• MEPs increased the Commission’s original proposal for the minimum share of a sustainable aviation fuel that should be made available at EU airports. From 2025, this share should be 2%, increasing to 37% in 2040 and 85% by 2050.
• MEPs amended the proposed definition of sustainable aviation fuel, a term that covers synthetic fuels or certain biofuels, produced from agricultural or forestry residues, algae, bio-waste or used cooking oil. They included also recyclable carbon fuels produced from waste processing gas and exhaust gas deriving from production process in industrial installations.
• It is proposed to leave some biofuels, produced from animal fats or distillates, to be used in the aviation fuel mix for a limited time (until 2034).
• MEPs excluded feed and food crop-based fuels, and those derived from palm oil, because they do not align with the sustainability criteria.
• Renewable electricity and hydrogen was also included as part of a sustainable fuel mix.
• Transport MEPs proposed the creation of a Sustainable Aviation Fund from 2023 to 2050 to accelerate the decarbonisation of the aviation sector and support investment in sustainable aviation fuels, innovative aircraft propulsion technologies, or research for new engines. The fund would be topped up by penalties generated by the enforcement of these rules.

Next steps

The European Parliament as a whole needs to approve the draft position at the plenary in July.

22 June 2022: European transport ministers have dopted a common position (general approach) on the ReFuel EU Aviation initiative.       

The General Approach takes into account the following:

• The possibility for member states to apply the draft regulation to airports below a certain traffic threshold.
• The extension of the scope with regard to aircraft operators.
• The extension of the scope of eligible sustainable aviation fuels and synthetic aviation fuels. For biofuels, the scope is extended to other certified biofuels complying with the RED sustainability and emissions saving criteria, up to a maximum of 3 per cent, and with the exception of biofuels from food and feed crops, which are excluded.
• The introduction of national flexibilities that give Member States the possibility to increase their sub-mandate of synthetic fuels at national level, under certain conditions and for a limited period of time.
• The introduction of the possibility for the competent authorities of the Member States to grant an exemption from the tankering provisions for certain flights in the event of serious and recurrent operational difficulties or structural difficulties in the supply of fuel in accordance with identified criteria.
• The introduction of reporting obligations for fuel suppliers and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on the use of substances that give rise to non-CO2 effects in aviation.
• Data collection and the reporting obligations have been reinforced in order to monitor the effects of this regulation on the competitiveness of EU operators and platforms, and to improve knowledge of the non-CO2 effects of air transport emissions.
• New considerations that the Commission is expected to include in its report in 2027, such as the impact of this regulation on connectivity, on carbon leakage and distortions of competition, and on the future use of hydrogen and electricity.

23 February 2022: The Committee on Transport and Tourism has published its draft report on the ReFuelEU Aviation.

8 February 2022: Seven EU Member States; Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden have sent a letter to the European Commission urging for more ambition. In particular, while the EC proposal sets EU-level requirements on SAF, the 7 Member States propose to allow countries to impose their own national blending obligations on top of the EU mandate. This would allow for more ambition.

You can find more information here.

25 January 2022: The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) has published its draft opinion on the European Commission proposal of the ReFuel EU Aviation initiative.

• The report recognises that aviation is one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonise, as electrification will not be possible for most flights and SAF based on biomass will not be enough. The only viable path is the development of renewable fuels based on solar and wind energy, which are abundantly available and have much higher area efficiency than biomass.
• The rapporteur aims for a 100% share of SAF by 2040/2050 as the 63 per cent by 2050 proposed by the EC is not in line with its climate neutrality targets.
• The report also mentions that, given that aviation is one of the most inefficient modes of transport, it is necessary to reduce air traffic and shift to rail or water transport. If societal and environmental costs were included in ticket prices, at least short-haul flights for travel distances below 500 km would instantly cease to be economically viable.

• The rapporteur considers the current threshold as not ambitious enough and will advocate to include all airports in the regulation with at least 300.000 passengers per year, including the 12 biggest airports in outermost regions, covering 99.2 per cent of total passengers flying from an EU airport.
• The regulation should not only look at SAFs but also other technologies like electric and hydrogen flights.

You can find the ITRE draft opinion here.

20 April 2021: On 20 April, DG MOVE gave an update on the ReFuel EU Aviation initiative during the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Summit organised by EBAA. 

ERA members can view the update in the downloads section at the top right of this tile.