Pan-Sector Initiative Targets 2.2 Million Tons Of Aviation
Biofuel By 2020
The European Commission, Airbus, leading European airlines and
European biofuel producers, have launched an exciting new
industry-wide initiative to try and speed up the commercialization
of sustainable aviation fuels in Europe.
The initiative, labelled “Biofuel Flightpath,” is a
roadmap with clear milestones which targets an annual production of
2.2 million tons of sustainably produced biofuel for aviation by
2020. The biofuel will be produced in Europe from European sourced
feedstock material and has the backing of The European
Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, Airbus CEO Tom Enders, major
European airlines, and a number of advanced biofuel producers.
The “Biofuel Flightpath” commits members to support
and promote the production, storage and distribution of sustainably
produced drop-in biofuels for use in aviation and to reach two
million tonnes production and consumption by 2020. It also targets
establishing appropriate financial mechanisms to support the
construction of industrial “first of a kind” advanced
biofuel production plants. "This is a unique opportunity to create
the first industrial venture ever introducing sustainable biofuels
for commercially competitive operations. The Commission therefore
fully supports all efforts in this direction and will actively
contribute to their success. They are fully in line with our
European Strategic Energy Technology Plan," said Mr Günter H.
Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy.
“Airbus supports the speeding up of the commercialisation
of sustainable biofuels for use in aviation. Our catalyst role is
to bring together stakeholders such as advanced biofuel producers,
airlines and lawmakers in value chains, in order to achieve this
common goal more quickly. Only by working together can we meet our
ambitious target to make air transportation truly
sustainable,” said Tom Enders.
"The suitability of biofuels for aviation has been proven,
opening an outstanding opportunity to drastically reduce air
transport’s carbon footprint. Deployment of sustainable
biofuels will only be possible through a shared vision and common
objectives from producers, end users and policy makers. With this
ambitious ‘Biofuel Flightpath’, Europe is giving the
right signal for the emergence of a European supply chain." Pierre
Henri Gourgeon , CEO Air France-KLM.
"Aviation biofuels are today technically possible and our
biofuels sector is ready to help meet the Flightpath targets
towards its commercialization. Together with airlines and public
stakeholders, we will create viable and cost competitive business
cases for the production and utilisation of sustainably produced
aviation biofuels." said Marcell Ulrichs, CEO of CHOREN Industries.
'We are committed to enabling the global aviation community to
reduce its carbon footprint and its dependence on crude."
More specifically the Biofuel Flightpath aims to:
- Facilitate the development of standards for drop-in biofuels
and for their certification
- Work together with the full supply chain to further develop
worldwide accepted sustainability certification.
- Facilitate dedicated aviation biofuel production at a
reasonable cost by agreeing to tangible biofuel supply and purchase
commitments.
- Promote appropriate legislative measures to ensure the market
uptake of paraffinic biofuels by the aviation sector.
- Accelerate research and innovation into advanced biofuel
technologies, including algae.
- Establish financing structures to facilitate sustainable
biofuel projects.
- Publicly promote the benefits of replacing kerosene by
sustainable biofuels.
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