ECAC workshop on sustainable aviation fuels organised with Clean Skies for Tomorrow
Videoconference, 6 July 2022 — The ECAC and Clean Skies for Tomorrow Workshop on SAF Reporting and Claiming, organised under ECAC’s Capacity-Building Programme for Environment, focused on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
As the aviation industry pursues its goals to improve the sustainability of flying, the supply and demand of SAF are increasing. Aspirations to accelerate the transition to use of SAF are backed by various State, regional and industry policies, and by a growing number of companies which are seeking to reduce the carbon footprint associated with their own travel and logistics.
The ECAC/EU Sustainable Aviation Fuels Task Group (SAF-TG) identified that requirements for SAF reporting and claiming face several practical challenges. Harmonisation of these requirements by ECAC States and others would remove some of the obstacles. As a first step to tackle these challenges, the SAF-TG has been gathering details of the challenges and examples of solutions.
Led by the Clean Skies for Tomorrow (CST) initiative, a community of experts are also seeking to support a harmonised approach through the development of a SAF certification framework. This accounting mechanism, due to be published ahead of the ICAO Assembly in September 2022, provides a first-of-its-kind demand signal mechanism to encourage and account for use of SAF by aviation’s passenger and freight customers, and was advanced to the participants.
The workshop aimed at expanding this information exchange to a broader community and hence invited all ECAC Member States, industry, and other stakeholders to join and collect further views to inform the SAF guidance material under development by the SAF-TG. Sixty-eight experts from States, the aviation and energy sectors, NGOs and sustainability certification entities joined the event.