French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday (16 June) announced €500 million in public investment into the French aviation industry to help the EU meet its aviation decarbonisation targets for 2030 and 2050.

Read the original French article here.

Ahead of the annual aviation Salon du Bourget event next week, the French President on Friday visited factories of aircraft engine manufacturer Safran, in the Paris region, to outline France’s new commitments to sustainable aviation.

The visit follows up on a working dinner on Thursday evening with industry leaders from Airbus, Dassault, Safran, Air France, KLM and Paris Airport.

For the period 2024-2030, Emmanuel Macron announced €300 million a year to support the industry via the French public Civil Aeronautics Research Council (CORAC).

This represents a threefold increase in investment to develop engines that produce less greenhouse gas emissions, create lighter and stronger aircraft parts, and finance the development of technologies by small and medium-sized businesses in the sector – in particular, small electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft.

On sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), Macron confirmed an additional €200 million to develop biofuels and produce 500,000 tonnes of SAF in France.

Macron reiterated the objective of blending 6% of biofuels into kerosene by 2030, which is the amount the EU has agreed – pending ratification – at the European level in the negotiations on the ReFuelEU legislation.

Currently, SAF production is estimated to account for just 0.1% of the overall demand for aviation fuel, as seven of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers pointed out in a statement published on Thursday.

Macron also pointed out that industry sets a more ambitious target of 10% biofuel in fuel tanks by 2030, “as in the United States”.

Behind these new investments lies the desire to strengthen French and European sovereignty, as kerosene is 100% imported.

These new investments would therefore accelerate the deployment of sustainable fuels developed in Europe, lower their prices, and bring aviation closer to its objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

At the end of the ReFuelEU negotiations, Irish MEP Ciarán Cuffe, leader of the Greens/EFA group on the issue, pointed out that the agreed targets are “not sufficient to achieve climate neutrality”.

Source: Euractiv.com