MEPs and EU member states agreed on Wednesday to reduce polluting emissions from air transport by imposing a minimum rate of “green” fuels for planes departing from the continent. The text, part of the ambitious European climate plan, provides that the fuels available in EU airports will include in their composition in 2025 at least 2% of “sustainable aviation fuels” (SAF), then 6% in 2030, with a gradual increase to 70% by 2050.
“Sustainable fuels” include synthetic fuels (made from hydrogen and CO2), renewable hydrogen, jet fuels made from waste gases and plastic waste, or biofuels from agricultural residues, algae , biomass, or used cooking oil. The 2050 objective is below what the MEPs demanded (85%), but exceeds the initial proposal of the European Commission (63%) which had been taken up by the Member States.
This law alone should make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions from European air transport by around two-thirds by 2050 compared to the scenario where no measures would be taken, estimates the Commission. Aviation accounts for around 4% of European greenhouse gas emissions.
“The agreement brings immediate certainty to companies and producers of sustainable fuels”, and avoids the “fragmentation” of the European market, welcomes the federation Airlines for Europe (A4E), according to which the States must reinforce the production of SAF and “the security of supplies”. The agreement provides for a minimum share of 1.2% of synthetic fuels in the kerosene supplied by European airports in 2030-2031, well above what the Commission and the States proposed (0.7%). This share will reach 2% in 2032-2034, then 5% in 2035, before reaching 35% in 2050.
Synthetic fuels are the only ones “whose use can be increased in a sustainable way”, estimates Matteo Mirolo, of the NGO Transport
The text also provides that the bulk of the supply of kerosene for flights departing from the EU should take place at European airports, in order to limit emissions due to excessive fuel cargo and prevent companies from circumventing the rules. by eating outside the EU. The agreement excludes biofuels from food crops or palm oil by-products, but not those from cooking oils, “the supply of which is however limited in Europe, at the risk of creating shortages in other countries. ‘other industries’ that might choose less green alternatives, worries T
Finally, the agreement opens the door to future consideration of emissions other than CO2 (sulphur, etc.), which represent two-thirds of the climate impact of aviation. Another text of the European climate plan, definitively adopted on Tuesday, will make companies pay for the CO2 emissions of their intra-European flights, with the gradual disappearance of the free allowances from which they have benefited so far, but with an incentive mechanism in the event of use. sustainable fuels.