Irish Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe has secured €1 million in EU funds to assess the feasibility of an EU body for jet fuel standards and safety certification. MEP Cuffe welcomed the approval of his proposed pilot project as the first step away from the current system, in the hands of private US-based organisation ASTM International, towards EU oversight and certification of jet fuels. Ultimately, this will allow the EU to set its own jet fuel standards in the public interest, in the same way fuels for other transport modes are regulated.  

MEP Cuffe said: “The real climate impact of aviation is much worse than we thought. The non-C02 effects of flying, like the release of soot and sulphur dioxide from jet engines, are up to three times as bad for the climate than just C02 emissions alone. We urgently need to clean up our fuels, and continuing to allow a private, non-EU organisation to set the standards for the fuels we use is a real barrier to that.

With an EU body, we will finally be able to advance towards reducing these non-CO2 effects by lowering the minimum thresholds for aromatics and sulphur in jet fuels. If we get this right, the EU could accelerate the development and uptake of safer and less polluting fuels. In combination with the rapid rollout of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) under the new ReFuelEU Aviation law, this should reduce the climate impact of one of Europe's most polluting industries.”

The primary aim of this pilot project is to assess the feasibility and associated requirements for a single and independent EU body with the capacity for specification, standardisation and certification of aviation fuels. This work will be overseen by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).MEP Cuffe is the Greens/EFA negotiator for ReFuelEU Aviation, a new climate law to boost the use of SAFs in the EU. He is also coordinator of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee.