The ministers of eight EU member countries, in particular France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Spain respectively in a joint communiqué published on 8 February called on the Commission to promote the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) which should be mixed with kerosene to significantly reduce the size of the European airborne industry’s carbon dioxide emissions.
by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis
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Sustainable Aviation Fuels – SAF
SAF includes advanced biofuels and electric fuels and currently accounts for just 0.05% of EU jet fuel consumption. The purpose of this statement by the ministers of the EU member countries concerned is to try to “commit” the RefuelEU initiative, which will establish a framework for the exchange of aviation industry policy from carbon dioxide, including the definition of requirements for the use of SAF.
The Commission will publish the above percentages of SAF in a kerosene mixture in the first quarter of 2021.
In today’s circumstances, the use of SAF does not require changes in airport infrastructure, which is why they can be used directly. SAF is considered a drop-in technology that can be mixed with kerosene and without modifying the engines of airplanes.
The Prons from the use of SAF
- A mandatory high air fuel mix including SAF will stimulate investment in green fuels.
- It will increase the supply of SAF by creating a more competitive framework in the aviation fuel market.
- It will significantly reduce the carbon dioxide footprint of the European air transport industry.
- It will turn many agricultural producers to the cultivation and production of products used in the production of biofuels.
The Cons from the use of SAF
- The increasing use of SAF will gradually begin to bind ever larger areas of arable land in Europe, creating a gradual restriction on the supply of agricultural food by skyrocketing the prices of these foods, burdening consumers’ incomes by making food/living costs more expensive.
- Increasing bio-fuel production will require increasing amounts of water from the aquifer. If water is not used in crops by autonomous rainwater collectors individually by each producer of products intended to produce biofuels, then water as a commodity will be expensive creating social pressures.
- The EU will become increasingly dependent on the raw materials used to produce biofuels from non-EU countries. In no way should Germany repeat the strategic mistake made overnight in deciding to remove energy production from nuclear know-how, due to political pressure on the Merkel government by environmental activists, and now Germany is energy and geopolitically dependent on Russia’s now imported natural gas.
