Sustainable Aviation Fuel: EASA publishes paper on scale-up, progress and pressure points

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published the first ReFuelEU Aviation Annual Technical Report – containing information on the state and development of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) market in the EU. This report outlines an initial picture of how SAF is supplied, purchased, and used across the European Union (EU).

The report concludes that 0.6% of all aviation fuel supplied at EU airports was SAF, well below the mandatory 2% target for 2025. However, production capacity assessments indicate the EU is on track to meet the compulsory overall SAF blending target – 6% – in 2030.

The market remains concentrated, as airports in 5 Member States – France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Germany – accounted for 99% of supply. In total, 25 fuel suppliers provided SAF to 33 EU airports across 12 Member States.

Almost all SAF was biofuel – 88% from cooking oil and a further 17% from waste animal fats – with synthetic fuels nearly absent from the mix, suggesting that the latter technology is still at an early stage.

Find out in the full report here.