All planes using EU airports will be obliged to use designated green fuels from 2025 onward after the European Council and Parliament reached a compromise agreement to impose binding targets on the sector.
The deal came after midnight talks Tuesday, May 25th, and will require aircraft to blend their current fossil-fuel consumption with so-called green fuels such as biofuel or syncretic e-kerosene.
The new regulations will mandate airlines to use at least 2% green fuel by 2025, rising steadily to 20% by 2035, before reaching 70% by midcentury.
Currently, kerosene is the fuel of choice for airlines, since the sector proves to be a tough nut to crack for green policymakers due to the lack of electronic alternatives for aircraft. Regulating the aviation sector has been seen as elusive for policymakers, and ‘sustainable’ fuels are seen as the best compromise method to decarbonise the industry.
There are fears that the announcement will add to a spike in ticket prices with Brussels maintaining that it was necessary to kickstart the market for green fuels and cut back on the industry’s carbon footprint. Prices for air travel are already surging, spurred on by rising costs and the structural damage caused by the lockdown.
The European Commission has faced harsh criticism for its arbitrary classification of green fuels with airlines expressing anxiety that rising costs would be handed directly onto consumers.
Airlines will benefit from €2 billion worth of EU subsidies to facilitate the transition with fuels made from food products being excluded from the deal due to potential inflation concerns.
European Greens, while supporting the measures, warned of the impact the use of biofuels could have on food prices, with biofuel production accused of sucking up land and raw materials for food production. Green fuel producers have also cautioned that current infrastructure is not up to scratch to meet the appetite of new green regulations.
Placating Brussels’ bean counters, the measures are bad news for citizens already overburdened by the impact of Europe’s failing green transition and the fallout from the war in the East. Potentially opening up a Pandora’s box of unintended consequences for the airline industry, consumers may soon kiss goodbye to the quick and easy air travel that Europeans have enjoyed for decades.
