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Filip Cornelis, aviation director with the Commission\u2019s transport department, rejected those claims during a lively debate on the role of SAFs, hosted by EURACTIV on Tuesday (28 September)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really have to take issue with the claim that somehow our proposals will increase greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. This is an absolutely ridiculous assertion and there is no evidence for that at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aviation director said the Commission\u2019s July package of clean energy and climate laws has been designed to cut emissions across all transport sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve looked into this very carefully. Obviously, we don\u2019t want to plunder one sector just to feed another one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we are doing is, on the contrary, finally going to take measures to significantly reduce emissions in a sector that has in the past mostly been paying for emissions reduction in other sectors through the Emission Trading System [the EU\u2019s carbon market] and offsetting,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cornelis stated that the EU executive\u2019s impact assessment showed that thanks to increased vehicle electrification, the shift from road fuels to aviation fuels would be around 3% by 2030, rising to 6% by 2050, while only around 28% of used cooking oil \u2013 one of two waste lipids approved by the Commission for green jet fuel \u2013 would be needed by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But these assertions were met with scepticism by the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe problem we see is that the impact assessment supporting this proposal is unfortunately completely wrong,\u201d said Michael Fiedler-Panajotopoulos, the president of EWABA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt mentions no volumes about availability of feedstock and the assertion that there will be enough feedstock with any substantiation is puzzling to us,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EWABA president cited a study that found that of the 15 million tonnes of waste lipids available, the Commission\u2019s proposal would require 11 to 12 million. Significantly scaling up the collection of waste-oils is also not realistic, he said, pointing out that collection is now \u201cmatured\u201d and the percentage increase in collection has fallen to single digits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAvailability doesn\u2019t equal collectability,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EWABA chief cautioned that, as it stands, the legislation will hurt the chances of meeting the Commission\u2019s environmental aims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe EU will be increasing its greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tonnes if this proposal goes ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Fiedler-Panajotopoulos also warned that ReFuelEU would essentially ringfence scarce waste feedstock for large refineries, which have the capability to produce jet fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said this would cut off the supply for smaller biofuels refineries and cautioned that the prospect of shuttered factories would make it difficult for the proposal to pass through the EU\u2019s other legislative branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMEPs and the Council will not allow 50+ factories around Europe to close down for a ringfenced, separate mandate for aviation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An EU mandate for the use of animal fats and used cooking oils in sustainable aviation fuel is set to enrich large biofuel players such as Total and Neste, at the expense of most of the industry, the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA) has warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EWABA president affirmed that waste lipids have a role to play in decarbonising aviation, but said they should not be included in a separate blending mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea Baldino, a researcher with the International Council on Clean Transportation, shared EWABA\u2019s concerns over the diversion of waste feedstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst, these waste oils [such as used cooking oils] are already being used in the road sector and diverting them may not provide a net benefit for the climate at all. And second, waste oils will not be available at the scale needed to meet ReFuelEU Aviation\u2019s ambition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She described boosting the use of waste-based fuels in aviation at the expense of the road sector as a carbon \u201caccounting gimmick\u201d and said that the process to refine waste lipids into jet fuel is more costly and cumbersome than refining them into biodiesel for cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you\u2019re diverting waste oils from the road sector to aviation that is much more energy intensive \u2013 it requires more hydrogen for hydroprocessing \u2013 and the refining of aviation fuels is less efficient than putting them into the road sector,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICCT researcher also warned that outside of the sub-mandate for electro-fuels, used cooking oil-derived fuels may be used to meet the entirety of the SAF mandate up to 2030. To prevent this, the ICCT suggest capping waste oils at 1.7% for aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese waste oils are already decarbonising the road sector and in the future they can decarbonize the marine sector,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, Filip Cornelis characterised ReFuelEU Aviation as part of a holistic approach by the Commission to cut carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur view is that there is no feedstock reserved for any particular use. We are promoting an overall policy to decarbonise different sectors, different modes of transport, with all the means that are available, and we do take issue with those who claim that somehow a certain feedstock should be reserved for certain uses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EWABA countered that this is, in fact, what the Commission is proposing, as ReFuelEU would essentially reserve feedstock for a handful of large producers at the expense of smaller waste biodiesel companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proposed EU legislation aimed at cutting flight emissions by ramping up the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) has excluded the use of first-generation biofuels, arguing they bring \u201climited environmental benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Electro-fuels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Panellists at the virtual conference uniformly agreed on the need to increase the supply of electro-fuels across the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe share the view that the future, particularly in the longer term, is synthetic fuels, but they need to be produced from truly green electricity,\u201d said Filip Cornelis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe envisage that the share of synthetic fuels will overtake the share of bio-based fuels sometime around the middle of now and 2050, and synthetic fuels will make up the majority of fuels by 2050,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Vilela Oliveira, a policy officer with the German environment ministry, touted electro-fuels as a superior option to biomass-based fuels to decarbonise flights, as they can be scaled up without diverting fuels from other sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, he said, the German government is basing its SAF strategy solely on so-called RFNBOs \u2013 renewable fuels of non-biological origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, for electro-fuels to be sustainable, large quantities of renewable energy is needed. If electricity from fossil fuels is used to manufacture electro-fuels, they become a sustainability risk, cautioned Chelsea Baldino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus of the discussion, the ReFuelEU Aviation proposal, will now be negotiated by lawmakers in the European Parliament and Council before a final version enters into force, a process which is likely to take around two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n > Watch the full EURACTIV event on YouTube below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.![\"YouTube\"](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/borlabs-cookie\/assets\/images\/cb-no-thumbnail.png\")
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