The EU renewable ethanol industry has launched a legal challenge against the RefuelEU Aviation Regulation, claiming that it unjustly excludes crop-based biofuels, hindering efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from air transport.
The new action comes after the industry filed a similar case against the FuelEU Maritime Regulation in December 2023.
David Carpintero, Director General of ePURE, the European renewable ethanol association, said in a recent statement that both legislations discriminate against sustainable biofuels that are compliant with the Renewable Energy Directive.
The legal application seeking partial annulment of RefuelEU Aviation Regulation was filed with the General Court of the European Union at the end of January.
The association also recently argued that a more consistent EU biofuels policy could help address the economic concerns of the EU agricultural sector.
Providing EU countries with greater flexibility in using crop-based biofuels to achieve transport emissions-reduction targets, could not only create supplementary income sources for European farmers but also improve the EU’s ability to decarbonise transport and reduce fossil oil imports, it said.
