ReFuelEU Aviation: agreement on sustainable aviation fuels. 2% SAF in 2025, 70% in 2050

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed, in the night of 25 April 2023, a provisional agreement on the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation. Aviation fuel suppliers at EU airports will have to blend sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in increasing proportions: 2% in 2025, 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035, 34% in 2040, 42% in 2045 and 70% in 2050. A separate sub-target for synthetic fuels was introduced. For the renewable gases industry this is an example of how EU policy creates demand for low-carbon fuels in sectors that are hard to electrify.

What is changing

The regulation covers, among other things:

• An obligation to blend SAF by aviation fuel suppliers,
• A synthetic sub-target: 1.2% on average in 2030–2031, 2% in 2032, 5% in 2035, 10% in 2040, 15% in 2045 and 35% in 2050,
• Eligible fuels: advanced biofuels from waste and residues, synthetic fuels (RFNBO) and recycled carbon fuels; biofuels from food and feed crops will not be counted,
• Countering "tankering": aircraft operators are to refuel at EU airports at least 90% of the fuel needed for departing flights.

Significance for the industry in Poland

In the direct sense the rules apply to aviation fuel suppliers and airlines, not to biogas producers. However, the SAF market will compete for waste feedstocks with other biofuels, and in the longer term biogas and biomethane may be used to synthesise liquid fuels (for example in the Fischer–Tropsch process after gasification or reforming). For Polish refineries and fuel producers the rules open up new markets, but also require investment and certification.

Airport operators and airlines will seek guarantees of origin and proof of sustainability, which increases the importance of certification systems and databases similar to those being introduced by the RED III directive.

Why aviation is looking for new feedstocks

SAF from waste oils and fats has limited feedstock potential, so the industry is developing other pathways: fuels from agricultural and forestry waste, gasification of municipal waste and synthetic fuels. Each of them requires large investments and certification. For biogas producers, the closest contact with the SAF market is competition for agricultural residues and possible partnerships in supplying feedstocks or biogenic CO₂ for fuel synthesis.

What next

Parliament and the Council will formally adopt the regulation in the second half of 2023, and the obligations will start to apply from 2025. Biogas producers should follow the development of the SAF market: demand for agricultural waste and residues may increase, which will affect their availability and prices for biogas plants.