Germany, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg signed a joint letter on Tuesday 1 February arguing that Member States should be able to impose more ambitious rules on blending targets for sustainable aviation fuels (ReFuelEU Aviation) (see EUROPE 12878/17).
This text, which is part of the ‘Fit For 55’ package (see EUROPE 12764/10), provides for a gradual increase in the share of Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAF) in aircraft fuels to 2% in 2025, 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035, 32% in 2040, 38% in 2045 and 63% in 2050.
“We believe there is room for increasing the ambition further regarding sustainability and boosting of SAF by allowing Member States to go beyond minimum EU standards. This could also provide a basis for developing new innovative approaches and technologies”, said the six Member States.
In addition, Member States insist that the additional costs of these higher national targets would be covered by the Member States themselves.
Furthermore, the signatories of the letter consider that additional investments will be necessary to increase the production of SAF, which, if available, are not available in sufficient quantity.
“The aviation sector faces higher costs than other sectors given limited production of commercial-scale SAF and limited opportunities to electrify in the short term”, they say, adding that higher levels of ambition would “send a clear signal to producers of SAF”.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/45 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)