(fra Kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Aviation activities are included in the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union (‘EU ETS’) established by Directive 2003/87/EC. 

(2) Directive (EU) 2023/958 of the European Parliament and of the Council amended Directive 2003/87/EC to align it with Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council setting a target of at least 55 % net emission reductions by 2030 compared to 1990. 

(3) To support the transition from the use of fossil fuels and incentivise the decarbonisation of commercial air transport, Directive (EU) 2023/958 introduced an additional ETS support by reserving a maximum of 20 million allowances to be allocated to cover part of the remaining price difference between fossil kerosene and the eligible aviation fuels used by commercial aircraft operators from 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2030. 

(4) The reserve of 20 million allowances comes from the total number of allowances to be allocated in respect of aircraft operators, and is to be allocated in a non-discriminatory manner, only for the use of eligible aviation fuels used on flights covered by the EU ETS surrender obligation and on flights covered by Article 3c(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC. 

(5) In order to operationalise the allocation of the 20 million allowances reserved for supporting the uplift of eligible aviation fuels the detailed rules for the yearly calculation of the price difference between eligible aviation fuels and fossil kerosene and the detailed rules for allocating these allowances should be laid down. 

(6) In order to minimise the administrative efforts required from commercial aircraft operators and competent authorities, commercial aircraft operators should be able to apply for the allocation of allowances by simply reporting the use of eligible aviation fuels in their annual emissions report. To allow for a streamlined process and timely allocation, the application should only be considered valid where the annual emissions report has been submitted by 31 March each year as laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/20664 . In order for commercial aircraft operators to be able to report the use of eligible aviation fuels for transparency or other reasons without applying for allowances, commercial aircraft operators should be allowed to opt out from the support. 

(7) Pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2405 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (‘EASA’) is to report on, amongst others, aviation fuel prices in their annual technical report (‘EASA technical report’). That report is published by EASA annually and includes market prices of fossil kerosene and sustainable aviation fuels that are publicly traded and, where the market price is not available, estimated production costs. For legal certainty the Commission should, to the extent possible, ensure the alignment of the aviation fuel prices required to be determined and published under this Regulation with the prices reported under Regulation (EU) 2023/2405. 

(8) The alternative aviation fuels market is evolving as the industry strives to decarbonise aviation while fulfilling the upcoming supply mandates for fuel suppliers and voluntary commitments to uplift these fuels by aircraft operators. In order for this Regulation to use the most accurate price differences, the Commission should publish prices for each specific eligible aviation fuel separately where available, as the price of each eligible aviation fuel depends on the feedstock and the fuel production pathway used. The Commission should use representative and transparent prices at which these fuels are publicly traded. However, due to the nascent nature of the market, not all eligible aviation fuels are publicly traded, even if produced and used in small quantities. Consequently, the price of the eligible aviation fuels should be determined either by using market prices published in the EASA technical report for the fuels publicly traded, the actual fuel prices paid by commercial aircraft operators, or a minimum selling price calculated by the Commission. However, as specific prices for all eligible aviation fuels may not be available, a minimum list of eligible aviation fuel subcategories should be established that should encompass all the potential eligible aviation fuels. These subcategories should group specific eligible aviation fuels and be subcategories to the categories laid down in Article 3c(6), third subparagraph of Directive 2003/87/EC. 

(9) For eligible aviation fuels, for which no market price is available in the EASA technical report because they are not publicly traded, commercial aircraft operators should be able to report on a voluntary basis to the Commission the actual prices paid for the eligible aviation fuel with a view for the actual prices paid to be taken into account in the determination of the fuel prices. The prices reported by commercial aircraft operators should be accompanied by evidence that covers contracts and uplift for the whole calendar year as well as the complete uplifted volume of the fuel that is reported by that commercial aircraft operator. Moreover, in order to ensure a sufficient level of representativeness, the fuel for which prices are reported should represent at least one quarter of all fuel of that category reported in that year by all commercial aircraft operators for it to be used for the determination of the price for the eligible aviation fuels. The Commission should ensure that such data is reported and handled in full confidentiality. However, where less than three commercial aircraft operators report to the Commission the actual prices paid, statistical confidentiality of the data cannot be ensured. In that case, the commercial aircraft operators should waive the confidentiality requirement, if they wish their prices to be taken into account in the calculation of the fuel prices. In order to facilitate the establishment of appropriate procedures on reporting actual prices, also ensuring appropriate level of confidentiality, the option to report actual prices should become applicable from 2026, for fuels used from 1 January 2025. 

(10) In order to encourage the reporting of actual prices paid by commercial aircraft operators where market prices are not available in the EASA technical report, the reported prices should be taken into account and the appropriate price difference used when calculating the allocation of allowance to the commercial aircraft operator only if at least one quarter of the volume of all reported fuels have a reported price. However, for those operators that did not report the actual prices paid and used eligible aviation fuel for which the market price is not available in the EASA technical report, the number of allowances should be calculated using the minimum selling price of the eligible aviation fuel subcategory. 

(11) The minimum selling price should be determined by applying an appropriate margin to the production cost estimate for the eligible aviation fuel reported in the EASA technical report. The margin should be a conservative value of 10% based on a hurdle rate of approximately 12-16%. That hurdle rate is aligned with sector evidence gathered by the Commission, such as the hurdle rates applied in electricity generation. Moreover, the margin used should ensure that the minimum selling price is not overestimated and encourage commercial aircraft operators to report actual prices paid. 

(12) In order to ensure appropriate accounting of the number of available allowances, before the Commission adopts a decision on the allocation of allowances for the use of eligible aviation fuels, the Commission should check whether the remaining number of allowances reserved pursuant to Article 3c(6) of Directive 2003/87/EC is sufficient to cover the demand for the allocation of allowances. Where that number is not sufficient, the Commission should calculate an allocation reduction factor to be applied in a uniform manner to all commercial aircraft operators concerned by the allocation for that year. 

(13) To acknowledge the contribution of EU ETS revenues to the climate transition, commercial aircraft operators should ensure that the reception of the support is visible in their communication, such as in their annual reports, sustainability statements or passenger tickets. 

(14) The application for the support for the uplift of eligible aviation fuels is to be reported by commercial aircraft operators together with reporting of emissions for 2024. In order to ensure the timely application of the rules laid down in this Regulation before the deadline of reporting those emissions, it should enter into force without delay,