Assessment of the production and supply of SAF in Union airports and study on the feasibility of the creation of a system of tradability of SAF in the EU : final report

ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation (EU) 2023/2405 aims to decarbonise the aviation sector by accelerating the supply and uptake of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) whilst ensuring a level playing field for sustainable air transport. The Regulation introduces a requirement for every aviation fuel supplier to supply a minimum share of SAF, increasing over time from 2025 to 2050. To enable SAF supply chains to develop in the most cost-effective way, the Regulation introduces a "SAF flexibility mechanism". For the first ten years, the SAF flexibility mechanism allows an aviation fuel supplier to meet its minimum share of SAF by calculating a weighted average over all the aviation fuel it supplies across Union airports where it operates for that reporting period (one calendar year), instead of physically delivering SAF at each Union airport. In this way, the mechanism allows an aviation fuel supplier to compensate for lower shares of SAF supplied at certain Union airports with higher shares of SAF supplied at other Union airports. This study supports the European Commission in its task to "identify and assess the developments on SAF production and supply on the Union aviation fuel market as well as assess possible improvements or additional measures to the existing SAF flexibility mechanism [...]" (ReFuelEU Aviation Article 15(2)). This report first looks at the current EU market for conventional aviation fuel and the emerging SAF market, as well as outlining ReFuelEU Aviation (RFEUA) and its interaction with other policies. The report then summarises the impacts of the SAF flexibility mechanism as currently defined in RFEUA, before exploring possible options for how it could be improved and the implications of those possible improvements.