Today, a collective of ten leading companies and industry groups wrote to European Commissioners and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, urging them to provide policy support to the zero-carbon emission shipping and aviation sectors in the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP).
The letter, organised by the SASHA Coalition, was signed by companies developing the lowest emissions shipping and aviation technologies, including wind propulsion, fuel-cell, battery electric, and hydrogen combustion systems, and industry groups whose members include such companies. The signatories are Ecojet, ZeroAvia, ZULU Associates, MONTE, Hybrid Air Vehicles, the SASHA Coalition, LH2 Shipping, Condor, Beyond Aero, and Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association (ZESTAs), an alliance representing 65 maritime industry stakeholders many of which are leading these technologies.
The signatories highlight that their innovative solutions are amongst the most scalable maritime and aviation energy systems, offering Europe a huge opportunity for industrialisation and energy sovereignty. They also offer the most sustainable paths for decarbonising short- and medium-haul maritime voyages and air-travel routes.
Yet these solutions have not received due regulatory support from the Commission as other technologies have. This policy gap has slowed the development of these technologies and the infrastructure necessary to support them.
Brent Smith, CEO and co-founder of green airline Ecojet, said: “If we’re serious about economic growth and the environment, zero-emission flight and shipping must be a priority in the Clean Industrial Deal. With targeted regulatory support – i.e. clear certification pathways, enabling infrastructure, and bankable offtake – investors and industry will have a safe space to innovate and build at scale. The payoff: clean connectivity, stronger European energy security rooted in domestic production, and localised economic growth – skilled jobs, higher productivity, targeted investment.”
The letter calls for the STIP, expected to be announced imminently, to create a regulatory environment that helps developers access investment and bring their solutions to commercial scale production by:
- Designating zero-carbon emission aircraft and vessels as strategic, priority technologies for investment and send important market signals.
- Introducing mandatory targets for a proportion of inter-EU flights and voyages to be run on zero-carbon emission technologies by 2040.
- Ensuring renewable hydrogen availability for aviation through a dedicated Hydrogen Bank budget to reduce financial risk and facilitate long-term offtake agreements.
- Establishing regional testbeds for these technologies, with ‘green’ public service obligation routes, to demonstrate viability and strengthen regional connectivity.
- Improving the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) to mandate hydrogen infrastructure and electric charging at ports and airports.
Aurelia Leeuw, Director of EU Policy at the SASHA Coalition, said: “The lowest emission maritime and aviation technologies are also those that have been most neglected by regulation. The International Maritime Organization’s decision to delay voting on the NZF only increases the urgency of correcting this oversight, while the International Civil Aviation Organization’s CORSIA scheme is structurally unfit for developing this market. The STIP offers a crucial opportunity for action. A holistic enabling environment with the right incentives and a robust research funding strategy, is key to accelerate burgeoning technologies from development to demonstration and commercial deployment. If the Commission is serious about innovation, it should listen to its boldest innovators.”
The letter follows the SASHA Coalition’s call last week for the STIP to include a well-regulated book-and-claim system to de-risk e-kerosene, made from renewable hydrogen. To advance Clean Industrial Deal goals, such a system must operate exclusively for e-kerosene operate only in the EU, and be timebound.
The SASHA Coalition has also called for the STIP to include a contracts for difference (CfD) financing mechanism for renewable hydrogen e-fuels, and for it to encourage an expansion of the ETS to maximise available funds.
