Some of Europe’s biggest airlines are playing with the future source of our energy security. The first to show its hand was Lufthansa. Last week the airline publicly criticised one of the few European policies aimed at decarbonising aviation: the targets for replacing kerosene with Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).
We have seen this strategy before. Not long ago, carmakers lobbied hard for endless flexibilities and delays to climate rules. Now Lufthansa is attempting the same tactic in aviation: watering down climate policy and undermining Europe’s nascent SAF industry at precisely the moment when the sector needs certainty.
Lufthansa is not alone.
The General Assembly of the European airline lobby group Airlines for Europe (A4E) takes place tomorrow, and CEOs from major carriers are expected to call for the delay of the 1.2% 2030 target for e-SAFs, the synthetic fuels derived from green hydrogen. Their argument is simple: as projects are struggling to reach financial closure, the targets should be postponed until e-SAF becomes available on the market.
This risks killing the European e-SAF industry before it even takes off. At a time when fossil fuel prices are going up because of the Iran crisis, are airlines about to blow up the only viable alternative for aviation? The CEO of Sydney airport said it himself last week: sovereign SAF production is ever more important in a time of geopolitical instability. (....)