European SAF development ‘put back a decade’ by US IRA measures
Aviation stakeholders have urged the European Commission to improve its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) incentives in light of the measures included in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which one airline CE described as a global “game-changer”. The act was signed into law in August last year and includes significant incentives and subsidies for SAF production in the USA, at a time when the global airline sector is desperate to see more – affordable – SAF on the open market. Speaking during a panel session at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Aviation Summit on 29 March, the CE of decarbonisation solutions provider Topsoe, Roeland Baan, described the IRA as “the elephant in the room” when it comes to discussing the EU’s SAF polices. “There is absolutely no doubt that a year ago Europe was far ahead when it came to synthetic fuels, green fuels, technologies, etcetera compared to the rest of the world,” Baan says. “The IRA has changed that in one go.”His view is that because of the nascent nature of the global SAF industry, “as the money flows to the US, with it goes all the other limited resources”, including feedstocks, raw materials and knowledge covering a range of biofuels and synthetic fuels. As a consequence, while he does not doubt that the SAF sector will expand to meet global industry targets, Baan’s belief is “the development of SAF in Europe has been put back by a decade”. “It will happen but if I look at our own plans and those of our customers, with whom we were looking at building stuff in Europe, that is delayed and the focus is doing it in the US,” he says of the market dynamics since the IRA was introduced. “I’m not sure the Commission really understands what the moving parts are here,” he adds. Offering the Commission’s perspective, Filip Cornelis, director for aviation at the EU body, says that “generally speaking it is very good” to see other parts of the world pursuing sustainability objectives, but he questions the wisdom of the USA competing with Europe on SAF subsidies through the IRA measures.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-03-31/general/european-saf-development-2018put-back-a-decade2019-by-us-ira-measures
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European SAF development ‘put back a decade’ by US IRA measures
Aviation stakeholders have urged the European Commission to improve its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) incentives in light of the measures included in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which one airline CE described as a global “game-changer”. The act was signed into law in August last year and includes significant incentives and subsidies for SAF production in the USA, at a time when the global airline sector is desperate to see more – affordable – SAF on the open market. Speaking during a panel session at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Aviation Summit on 29 March, the CE of decarbonisation solutions provider Topsoe, Roeland Baan, described the IRA as “the elephant in the room” when it comes to discussing the EU’s SAF polices. “There is absolutely no doubt that a year ago Europe was far ahead when it came to synthetic fuels, green fuels, technologies, etcetera compared to the rest of the world,” Baan says. “The IRA has changed that in one go.”His view is that because of the nascent nature of the global SAF industry, “as the money flows to the US, with it goes all the other limited resources”, including feedstocks, raw materials and knowledge covering a range of biofuels and synthetic fuels. As a consequence, while he does not doubt that the SAF sector will expand to meet global industry targets, Baan’s belief is “the development of SAF in Europe has been put back by a decade”. “It will happen but if I look at our own plans and those of our customers, with whom we were looking at building stuff in Europe, that is delayed and the focus is doing it in the US,” he says of the market dynamics since the IRA was introduced. “I’m not sure the Commission really understands what the moving parts are here,” he adds. Offering the Commission’s perspective, Filip Cornelis, director for aviation at the EU body, says that “generally speaking it is very good” to see other parts of the world pursuing sustainability objectives, but he questions the wisdom of the USA competing with Europe on SAF subsidies through the IRA measures.<br/>
