Airlines Push Back Against EU Synthetic Green Fuel Rules

The biggest airlines in Europe are seeking weaker EU rules on synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) amid very high costs and scarce supply of the fuel on the market, sources told on Tuesday.  

Airlines for Europe (A4E), a trade group including IAG, the owner of British Airways, as well as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Ryanair, and EasyJet, is set to call for at least a delay to the planned EU rules on the share of eSAF, as the synthetic SAF is known.   

Synthetic fuels (or e-fuels) will play a major role in the decarbonization of the air transport market, the EU says. The European Commission’s ‘Fit for 55’ package to cut emissions proposes gradual increases in mandates on the use of SAF and eSAF at EU airports. 

For eSAF, the current proposal is to have 0.7% eSAF of all fuel at EU airports in 2030, rising to 5% in 2035, and to 35% in 2050. 

The European airlines, however, plan to issue on Thursday a formal call on the EU to at least delay the 2030 start date to eSAF mandates’ sources. 

The airlines are also discussing calling for the elimination of the eSAF mandate, one of the sources added. 

The aviation industry says there is simply not enough eSAF available and with the high costs, volumes are unlikely to become available by 2030. 

Unlike other SAF using cooking oil, biomass, or other used materials, eSAF – or Power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels – are made from renewable sources other than biomass, for example wind and solar power. The renewable energy and water are used in an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, which is subsequently synthesized with CO2 into syngas. The resulting syngas is then further processed into fuel. 

It all comes down to cost, according to oil and gas supermajor BP. 

“eSAF is still in the development stage and is considerably more expensive to produce and purchase - it can currently be eight times the cost of conventional jet fuel and two to three times the cost of SAF made from HEFA or municipal solid waste (MSW),” said BP, which had sought to enter the market before last year’s strategic pivot back to oil and gas.