TotalEnergies CEO expects EU mandate on sustainable aviation fuel to be dropped in future
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that he expected the European Union to water down its mandate to incorporate sustainable aviation fuel in future, similar to the bloc's recent decision to drop a proposed ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035.
Last year the EU mandated that 2% of jet fuel made available at its airports needed to be SAF, a requirement that will rise to 6% in 2030 and 20% in 2035.
"All the airline companies are fighting the 6% SAF mandate, which frankly is easy to reach...I will make a bet today that what happened to the car regulation will happen to the SAF regulation in Europe," Pouyanne said at a World Economic Forum panel on clean fuels.
TotalEnergies produces SAF at several refineries with plans to expand, but has delayed investments to increase capacity after finding that its clients were not willing to buy more than what was needed to satisfy EU rules, he said.
SAF is three to four times more expensive than jet fuel refined from oil.
Airline companies have blamed their lack of uptake on insufficient volumes being produced, which Pouyanne rejected.
"Today I am facing customers, my airline companies in Europe, who are making a huge lobby (effort) accusing us of not investing enough, which is completely wrong," Pouyanne said. "I will be able to provide 10% of SAF to the airline companies in Europe by 2030, but...everybody is dreaming they can have these biofuels at the same price as (jet fuel made from) oil, but it's not true."
The CEO added that he was likely to lower investments in low-carbon fuels due to regulatory uncertainty.
"I'm afraid, as it's a regulated market, if they move the targets, then I will have invested in biorefineries for nothing," he said.
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