Potential tankering under an EU sustainable aviation fuels mandate

The European Union (EU) is preparing a mandate, to take effect in 2025, requiring producers of jet fuels to blend an increasing proportion of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) into their stock at EU airports. However, in order to avoid purchasing the more expensive SAFs, airlines might load up on additional fossil fuel at non-EU airports. Called tankering, this is a common practice where the price of jet fuel varies across airports. Tankering reduces costs for airlines but increases fuel consumption and emissions and could reduce sales of SAFs. The authors draw upon ICCT’s Global Aviation Carbon Assessment model to estimate tankering’s effects on emissions and fuel sales on flights to EU airports through 2035. The results predict that though tankering will be minimal in 2025, under an increasingly robust SAF mandate it could occur on nearly 80% of flights to and from EU airports by 2035. Assuming that adjoining countries such as the United Kingdom will not adopt SAF mandates similar to that of the EU, tankering could reduce SAF sales by 22% at EU airports, increasing systemwide fuel use by nearly 10%, and carbon dioxide reductions resulting from an EU SAF mandate could decrease by about 25%. Flights from the UK could comprise half of tankered flights and excess fuel consumption, but elimination of tankering on UK flights would increase SAF sales at EU airports by nearly 20%. Prohibition of the carriage of excess fuel, with a mandate that airlines purchase SAFs at EU airports, and pressure on adjoining nations to adopt equivalent mandates would maintain the effectiveness of an EU SAF mandate.

• Record URL:
  https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/tankering-eu-SAF-mandate-apr2021.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://theicct.org/publications/tankering-eu-SAF-mandate-apr2021
• Corporate Authors:

  International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

  1500 K Street NW, Suite 650
  Washington, DC  United States  20005

  Aspen Institute

  Washington, D.C.    20037
• Authors:
  • Rutherford, Dan
  • Zheng, Xinyi Sola
  • Graver, Brandon
  • Pavlenko, Nikita
• Publication Date: 2021-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Serial:
  • Working Paper
  • Issue Number: 2021-19
  • Publisher: International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aviation fuels; Civil aviation; Fuel consumption; Greenhouse gases; Regulation; Sustainable transportation
• Geographic Terms: European Union
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Energy; Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01780787
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 30 2021 2:48PM