An overdue first step to reduce aviation’s climate impact
Aircraft rely exclusively on fossil jet fuel to operate, which explains why growing passenger numbers have rapidly increased emissions from the sector. Carbon pricing and a modal shift are important, but it is only when we swap fossil jet fuel for truly sustainable advanced fuels (SAFs) that emissions from flying will fall. Such a switch can address both CO2 and non-CO2 effects but to differing degrees. To date, no effective measures have been put in place at the European level to achieve such a switch. The ReFuelEU Regulation proposal changes that. The proposal introduces an obligation on jet fuel suppliers to blend a growing share of SAFs (biofuels and synthetic aviation fuels) into fuel provided at major airports in the EU.
The proposed Flight Emissions label is a missed opportunity to allow consumers to make truly informed choices.