That Was The Week That Was 24-28 April 2023
All SAF and Sound
Are you fit for 55? Sorry to ask such a personal question, but the Commission is determined that we all be. No, it is not a new campaign for better cardiovascular ratings for those over 50, despite that being what it sounds like. It is a call for Europe to be ready to reduce our emissions by 55% by 2030. Obviously. It must have looked good before it went into Google Translate. Or maybe this was an early product of AI in action.
In any event, for aviation in Europe, to get us fit for 55, the focus has been on SAFs. From the airlines and their associations, that has meant forming an orderly queue to demand funding.
For a long time, the entire debate about SAFs has been on a knife-edge. And this week, the week that was, we took a giant step forward. We agreed a vast array of things to do with SAF and the RefuelEU Aviation regulation. If the hot air and angst that this dossier has generated was able to be bottled, we would be fit for 65. This was agreed through a process known as the trilogue, a conversation between the Commission, the Parliament and the Council. Remember, it is the Commission that proposes, the Parliament that repurposes and the Council that disposes. The hint must be in the name because inevitably, we need three trilogues to get agreement.
The result of the third trilogue on the RefuelEU Aviation package has been hailed as an agreement. That is a good thing. You will recall this draft legislation; it mandates increasing over time, amounts of SAFs to be loaded on European aircraft for flights within the EU and from the EU to other destinations. We have haggled over the question of what constitutes a sustainable fuel, what the proportion of those SAFs should be and whether or not those proportions should be the same for all member states. The amount of SAF that is biofuel as opposed to synthetic e-fuel has been discussed and now, agreed. There has been acceptance of a much broader definition of acceptable fuels, which includes a wider feedstock base for bio-based SAF and low carbon e-fuels, including e-fuels generated by nuclear electricity. Food and feed stocks, including palm and soy oils, are not allowed. The troubling concern about needing SAF to be available at every airport in Europe has been addressed by imposing that requirement only on airports with more than 800,000 passengers or 100,000 tonnes of cargo annually. The provisional decision also notes that there will be full harmonisation, or, in other words, no member state can impose a national limit.
All this is good, and it is certainly good to get agreement. This is, however, an interesting philosophical fork in the road too. In the US, the Inflation Reduction Act has poured tax incentives and funding into renewals. In Europe, we are working on mandates to create certainty. So, time for another personal question: are you a carrot person, or a stick person? It is a deep question, once you start thinking about it. Or is that just me?
In any event, there are stick people where you might least expect them. The Boeing head of global accelerators and innovation programs(sic) Nicola Bates, speaking at the Revolution.Aero conference in Dublin this week when asked if more govt funding would make net zero carbon aviation happen sooner, was clear. She’s having none of it. Says there’s already too much and it breeds laziness. That is a stick person, right there.