Norway eyes minimum green biofuel requirement for airlines from 2020

Airlines operating in Norway will have to use a minimum amount of lower-carbon fuels mixed with biofuel from 2020 under proposed new green aviation rules announced by the nation's climate and environment ministry yesterday.

The new rules would place a requirement on aviation fuel producers to ensure at least 0.5 per cent of the fuel they sell in Norway each year consists of sustainable advanced biofuels made from waste and residues.

The target also ensures that biofuels should not contain "problematic materials" such as palm oil, the ministry explained.

Aviation fuel producers would then have flexibility to choose precisely where, how and when they mix the biofuel, depending on the needs of their customers, as long as they meet the overall annual quota.

The ministry cited estimates from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency that such a requirement could help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 14,000 tonnes of CO2 in the first year alone.

Norway's minister of climate and environment Ola Elvestuen said the biofuel quota would help drive the nation towards its goal for sourcing 30 per cent of airline fuel "sustainable with a good climate effect" by 2030.

"Biofuels are part of the solution to reduce emissions from the transport sector, especially in sectors such as aviation, where solutions without emissions are going further in time," he said in a statement. "At the same time, we know that the climate effect of biofuels varies between different types of biofuels. Therefore, we are now demanding that advanced biofuels be used."

Elvestuen added that the requirement would help build a market for alternative aviation fuels, and facilitate technological and industry development in Norway.

"We want to get a development where biofuels become more environmentally friendly," he said. "At the same time, it is important to be able to guarantee the industry long-term safety and safety in Norway. This has been a major wish from the industry."

Development of low-emission flight is seen as a crucial step towards delivering a net zero carbon global economy, and a raft of developers are working on potential solutions. Earlier this week, a Virgin Atlantic flight from Orlando to London Gatwick became the first commercial flight in the world undertaken in a plane fuelled by a percentage of waste-based biofuels, with the company hoping such fuels can deliver "dramatic" CO2 cuts in future.

However, the airline and biofuel developer LanzaTech urged the government to step up support for the nascent sector. "Today Virgin Atlantic is calling on the UK government to commit to making this fuel a commercial reality in the UK," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement. "Allowing access for new carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies like LanzaTech's to incentives already given to earlier generations of 'biofuels' and providing critical investor support will enable first plants to be swiftly built."

Also this week, fuel cell specialist HES Energy Systems released plans for the world's first regional hydrogen-electric passenger aircraft, predicting that its first prototype could be ready for take-off by 2025.