Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The amendments to the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of 20 November 2023, are required to be implemented by mid-2025. The EU RED outlines that in order to meet the increased European target for greenhouse gas emissions savings, the level of renewable energy supplied to all transport modes - including aviation and maritime - in the Union should be increased.

Revised targets are set in the EU RED at a minimum of 29% renewable energy share in transport or 14.5% GHG reduction by 2030. A sub-target for supply of renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) and advanced biofuels and biogas (i.e. which are produced from the feedstock listed in Part A of Annex IX of the EU Renewable Energy Directive) is set at a combined minimum of 5.5% by 2030, with a minimum share of RFNBOs in transport of 1%.

Supporting the supply of renewable energy in transport, the Renewable Transport Fuel Policy sets out the pathway to the achievement of both Climate Action Plan targets and European obligations concerning sustainability and GHG reduction criteria. The EU RED requires Member States to place a mandate on fuel suppliers in order to achieve the EU RED targets. The renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) on fuel suppliers is provided for under Part 5A of the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007.

I published the Renewable Transport Fuel Policy 2023-2025 in June 2023. The Policy sets out an indicative trajectory of annual increase in the RTFO rate, currently set at 21%, that is required to meet EU RED and domestic CAP decarbonisation targets. An indicative trajectory of annual increase in the advanced biofuel rate (currently at 1%), aligned to the RED sub-target for advanced biofuel, is also set out in the Policy.

A Department-led working group, established in 2023, is steering modelling and research concerning the projected demand for renewable fuel across the transport modes and the available supply of advanced renewable fuel and renewable fuels of non-biological origin to meet this projected demand, to assist in determining what can be done within the scope of the RTFO to further incentivise supply.

I also made regulations on the 31 March 2023 to authorise the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) to issue additional RTFO certificates for specified renewable transport fuels, where those fuels are supplied for use in specific transport modes, to incentivise their supply. The regulations became operational from 1 April 2023. Under the regulations additional RTFO certificates can be awarded for renewable transport fuel supplied for use in aviation and maritime transport.

My Department in consultation with the relevant stakeholders is considering the appropriate approach to implementation of the EU RED amendments as set out in the Renewable Transport Fuel Policy 2023-2025. Implementation of the EU RED amendments, extending to all fuel types and all modes of transport, will also align with the ReFuel EU Aviation Regulation (EU) 2023/2405, classified as “lex specialis”, and the Fuel EU Maritime Regulation (EU) 2023/1805. These Regulations have direct effect and are applicable across the EU.

The ReFuel EU Aviation Regulation mandates the increasing deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Union airports out to 2050. It obliges aviation fuel suppliers to supply aviation fuel containing increasing levels of SAF and synthetic aviation fuels. The mandated minimum share of SAF will start at 2% in 2025 and rise to 70% by 2050. From 2030, an increasing minimum share of this will need to be in the form of synthetic aviation fuel.

In addition, the recent revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), includes a mechanism that provides an incentive for SAF uptake by airlines through the provision of a total of up to 20 million free SAF allowances, serving to bridge some of the price differential between conventional jet fuel and that of SAF.

The Fuel EU Maritime Regulation aims to increase consistent use of renewable and low-carbon fuels and substitute sources of energy in maritime transport across the Union. It is technologically neutral and allows industry to plot the most cost-efficient pathway towards decarbonisation by imposing (from 1 Jan 2025) greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets on larger vessels, as well as imposing an onshore power supply (OPS) requirement for vessels (passenger ships and container ships over 5000 gross tonnage/GT) when moored at the quayside in a TEN-T port (from 2030).

From 1 January 2024 the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) was extended to cover CO2 emissions from larger vessels entering EU ports regardless of flag. The system will also include Methane and Nitrous Oxide from 2026. This system is putting a price on emissions and will help to close the price gap that currently exists between black and green fuels.

In addition to this, the revised IMO GHG Strategy, to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping, was adopted in July 2023 at the 80th session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee. This strategy sets out an ambitious target of net zero GHG emissions from shipping by or around, i.e., close to, 2050, which will incorporate both a technical and an economic element.’