European Commission says ReFuelEU SAF mandate will not be weakened

European Commission transport officials have said the bloc's sustainable aviation fuel mandate will not be scaled back, rejecting airline criticism of the policy's cost.

Speaking at IATA's World Sustainability Symposium on 14 October, Eddy Liegeois, who heads the aviation policy unit at the Commission's directorate-general for mobility and transport, said the target for SAF, and in particular for synthetic sustainable aviation fuel, must stay. The Commission has been clear it will not change its level of ambition for cutting aviation emissions, he said.

Liegeois pointed to energy independence as part of the reasoning. Europe needs to move away from its reliance on fossil fuels in what he described as an openly hostile world.

Under the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, 2% of fuel uplifted at airports in the bloc was to be SAF in 2025, rising on a gradual path to 70% by 2050. A separate sub-mandate requires 1.2% of fuel to be synthetic SAF in 2030, climbing to 35% by 2050.

Liegeois cited a September report from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency showing the 2025 target was exceeded, with SAF accounting for 2.8% of the total. No SAF existed when the legislation was adopted, he said, calling the outcome evidence the mandate works.

IATA senior vice-president for sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen disputed that framing, calling it a very early and self-congratulating thing to say. She argued the Commission's heavy policy focus on measures such as ReFuelEU has led producers to charge a higher premium for SAF, which she said has hit airlines hard. She described the result as an obvious economic outcome of mandating demand.

The exchange took place at two IATA events held in Brussels, where Commission officials addressed industry attendees.