Singapore (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Willie Walsh, the head of global industry group IATA, stated on Wednesday that the European Union should reassess its green targets for airlines because of insufficient renewable fuel production.
Under enterprising projects to tackle climate change, the European Union demands that airlines gradually raise the quantity of so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) they utilise to fuel planes. Airlines, however, grumble that the method is not widely available and too costly.
Why is IATA critical of EU green targets?
“I’ve been critical of the EU targets because I don’t think they’re going to be achieved,”
International Air Transport Association director-general Willie Walsh briefed journalists in Singapore.
“I struggle to see how we will have sufficient sustainable aviation fuel available to meet the near-term target.”
How much SAF is required under EU rules?
According to impending EU legislation, carriers will need to include either in their fuel mix 2% of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) beginning this year, 6% by 2030 and then increase to 70% beginning in 2050.
However, an analysis published by Airlines for Europe, which represents 17 carriers, estimated that among major producing regions, SAF production will be noted as 30% less taken together than what the aim suggests by 2030.
“I think the EU in particular needs to reevaluate the targets that they’ve set,”
Walsh stated, adding, however, that the industry goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 was still possible. He stated IATA had been hesitant to the concept of putting some near-term goals.
Is the EU setting targets without fuel supply data?
What the European Union should have been accomplishing was to evaluate the current and coming production of green fuel,
“and then set a target relevant to the production”,
He said.
“The idea that we’re setting targets when we’re not seeing the production of sustainable fuel makes no sense whatsoever,”
Walsh stated.
He further stated individual airlines in the EU
“are buying SAF outside of the EU to comply with their targets”,
Which he expressed also
“doesn’t make an awful lot of sense”
Due to the carbon footprint caused by transporting the fuel.
What makes SAF essential to aviation decarbonization goals?
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a biofuel made from renewable plant and animal materials such as used cooking oil, fats, and other biomass feedstocks. SAF is meant to substantially reduce carbon emissions compared to petroleum-based jet fuel. SAF is vital for the aviation industry’s ability to meet target emissions, such as net-zero emissions by 2050. SAF can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 80% and, in certain cases, 94% depending on the provided feedstock and type of process.
