Brussels, November 15 – Shipping and aviation are indispensable for the exchange of goods and mobility worldwide. It is therefore even more important that both can make their contribution to achieving the agreed climate targets, particularly through the use of CO₂-neutral fuels. Although EU regulation sets high ambitions for quotas, production in Europe is hardly economically feasible - and at the same time, EU law stands in the way of imports from countries outside Europe.  "As a result, no investments for the European market are being made outside the EU today, as all investors are waiting for legal certainty. With its current attitude of refusal, the EU is ensuring that no 'green molecules' will be supplied to Europe in the foreseeable future," said Peter Müller-Baum, Managing Director of the VDMA platform Power-to-X for Applications,

 At an information event in Brussels, Baden-Wuerttemberg's Minister of Transport Winfried Hermann MdL emphasized the outstanding importance of green hydrogen derivatives from outside Europe. Without them, the European Union's ambitious climate targets would not be achievable, said Hermann. "It will certainly take a few more years before electricity-based fuels can be produced in industrial quantities. But the right course must now be set at European level to ensure that the necessary investments are made. With our reFuels roadmap for Baden-Württemberg, we are pioneers in Europe. But of course, we cannot solve this alone. Europe must set pragmatic framework conditions so that climate-neutral fuels can also be produced here. Without this, it will not be possible to achieve the climate protection targets," emphasized the Minister.

The first plants for the production of electricity-based synthetic fuels are already being built, for example in Chile and the USA. The leap from research scale to industrial scale is imminent. However, investments in larger production plants are hardly economically viable in many regions of Europe. The majority of synthetic fuels will have to be imported from countries with suitable conditions for the cost-effective production of green hydrogen and its derivatives (such as methanol).

However, EU law currently stands in the way of this import: the fuels produced abroad will probably not be recognized as "green" in the EU, even though the production facilities do not differ technically from those in the EU. Bernd Kuepker from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy emphasized the EU's central goal of quickly making aviation and shipping more climate-friendly with ReFuel EU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime. However, he gave little hope of a pragmatic change, which was called for by other participants. "We believe we have made the right trade-offs here," said Kuepker. From the Commission's point of view, an effective CO₂ price for the use of industrial carbon for the import of eFuels from non-EU countries must ensure that such imports do not jeopardize the EU's target path towards climate neutrality. He held out the prospect of a review of the existing legislation in 2028 at the latest, while some interpretations might be possible also during the current discussions with certifying organizations.

 Thorsten Herdan from HIF - the company already produces eFuels at the Haru Oni demonstration plant in Chile - called for the existing hurdles in EU regulation to be removed quickly and in a targeted manner. "As producers of renewable fuels, we need long-term planning security, just like our customers," explained Herdan. "We are already today producing, and Europe must decide whether it wants our renewable fuels. Other countries are already ready," Herdan continued. Matthias Ziebell from Robert Bosch GmbH also agreed. His company is investing heavily in hydrogen technologies. "In many countries, especially outside the EU, there is an abundance of wind and sun. Green hydrogen and downstream products can be produced cheaply there. This also offers plant manufacturers good export opportunities for their products and can therefore secure jobs. But as long as EU regulation is closed to investors and sustainable energy from non-EU countries is not traded or only traded with great difficulty, German companies will lack a tailwind in international competition," says Ziebell. These fuels will accordingly migrate to other markets.

 Dr. Carola Kantz, Deputy Managing Director of the VDMA Power-to-X for Applications platform, focused in particular on the technical and regulatory requirements. "CO2 is required for the import of carbon-containing fuels such as methanol. Importing it into the EU is currently virtually impossible," she explained. The reason: according to Dr. Kantz, the required CO₂ would have to come from bio-sources, but these are limited in quantity. Alternatively, it could be extracted directly from the air using direct air capture, a technology that cannot yet be used industrially. The only option would be to use CO₂ from industry. However, this would only be possible if the country of origin had an effective pricing system for CO₂ as defined by the EU - a requirement that hardly any of the long list of countries that can use solar or wind power on a massive scale fulfill. “As a result, we run the risk that not only the maritime energy transition will run aground, but also the energy transition in aviation”, summarized the VDMA expert.

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