The EU gave the green light: Bio-fuel instead of kerosene for airplanes

The European Commission welcomed the political agreement of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on the adoption of ReFuelEU Aviation's proposal on the decarbonization of the aviation sector.

According to a proposal accepted by the European Commission, fuel suppliers for the aviation industry will be obliged to mix sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), the more popular biofuel, with kerosene in increasing quantities in the future. The new law concerning the European aviation industry is planned to enter into force in 2025.

By 2050, this measure is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft by about two-thirds by itself. In this way, climatic conditions and air quality will be improved by reducing emissions other than carbon dioxide.

These are the three rules that will be in effect from 2025:

1. The first is that aviation fuel suppliers will supply European Union airports with a minimum share of bio-fuel. The first supply from 2025 will start with only two percent of the total fuel, reaching 70 percent by 2050. The new EU jet fuel mix will also have to contain a minimum proportion of the most modern and environmentally friendly synthetic fuels, which will increase over time.

2. The second rule will concern airline operators flying from European Union airports. They will need to take only the fuel necessary for the flight, no more, to avoid emissions through extra fuel weights or carbon leakage (which happens with tankers). Simplified - pour as much as you need for the flight, no more than that.

3. The third new rule that will be applied in the EU aviation industry from 2025 concerns the airports themselves, whose obligation will be to provide the necessary infrastructure for the supply of fuel available for SAF distribution.

This agreement is an important step towards the implementation of the European Commission's climate change package and the so-called "European Green Deal". Air pollution increased from 2013 to 2019 by five percent annually. In the European Union, they believe that the new measures and the use of bio-fuels will also reduce the "pollution" of the air.

In order to achieve the ideal level of emissions from the air, it is necessary to reduce pollution by 2050 percent during airplane flights by 90, that is, to reach the level at which it was, say, in 1990.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will be a key part of the "journey to net zero". SAF is produced from sustainable sources such as agricultural waste and it reduces carbon emissions by as much as 70 percent compared to traditional jet fuel.

On the other hand, the new mixing of fuel and the application of the principle of sustainability will certainly bring higher costs, including the prices of air tickets, which will surely only go "up" in the coming years.

The political agreement of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe is now awaiting formal adoption. Once this process is complete, the new law will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force immediately.

I.D./Spiegel