Q&A Webinar on the 2024 reporting period for aircraft operators

Correct monitoring and reporting requirements as laid down in the MRR (Art 53, 53a, 54, 54b and 53c) and in the national regulation Regeling handel in emissierechten (Art. 26), as well as demonstrating compliance with RED criteria, are decisive in qualifying for zero-rating of SAF. The following checklist and roadmap provide more information on the relevant requirements for zero-rating claims, which are applicable for fuel deliveries inside and outside of The Netherlands. 

Fuel suppliers register fuel deliveries and relevant information to enable the parallel claim in the national registry. This information can only be requested by verifiers and is only accessible to the NEa. For more information please refer to the guidance on how SAF deliveries from 2024 should be entered into the REV to enable parallel claims by airlines under the EU ETS available here (in Dutch).

Fuel suppliers only have to enter some additional requested information in the registry when registering the batch of fuel and submitting the PoS. In addition relevant documentation such as purchase records including a reference to the batch number and PoS number are needed by the aircraft operator. No further tasks are needed from the fuel suppliers. The aircraft operator is responsible for collecting the relevant documentation for their zero-emissions claims.

This solution is only in place when the PoS is unavailable to the aircraft operator. In countries where there is no RED opt-in for aviation, the PoS should be available to the aircraft operators if they uplift in that respective country and can be used for ETS reporting.

The NEa calculates aircraft operators CORSIA CO₂ offsetting requirements in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1879 of 9 July 2024 laying down rules for the application of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the calculation of offsetting requirements for the purpose of CORSIA.
 
Yearly CO₂ offsetting requirements are calculated using the formula that multiplies the aircraft operators CO₂ emissions from international flights covered in the given year, multiplied by the Sector’s Growth Factor. The  ‘Sector’s Growth Factor’ (SGF) means a multiplier that is published in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document entitled ‘CORSIA Annual Sector’s Growth Factor (SGF)’ and calculated by the Secretariat of ICAO. The CORSIA Annual Sector’s Growth Factor (SGF) in 2023 was 0.0. Therefore the value 0.0 is used for the purposes of calculating the 2023 CO₂ offsetting requirements for aircraft operators under CORSIA, resulting in 0 CO₂ offsetting requirement.

Kindly note that the Commission has adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2850 of 11 November 2024 on the list of States which are considered to be applying CORSIA for the purposes of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council for emissions in 2024.

It has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. You can find it here: Implementing regulation - EU - 2024/2850 - EN - EUR-Lex

The Commission, with the assistance of EUROCONTROL and in cooperation with the Member States, prepares and publishes an annually updated list of aircraft operators on its website. This list identifies the aircraft operators that fall within the scope of the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation (RFEUA) and their respective attribution to the responsible Member State. All aircraft operators that meet conditions set out in ReFuelEU Aviation are subject to the obligations, regardless of whether they are included or not in the list published.

Obligated aircraft operators are determined by the definition of an ‘aircraft operator’ in Article 3(3) of the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation. ‘Aircraft operator’ is defined as a person that operated at least 500 commercial passenger air transport flights, or 52 commercial all-cargo air transport flights departing from Union airports in the previous reporting period or, where it is not possible for that person to be identified, the owner of the aircraft. Aircraft operators on the Commission’s list of aircraft operators, or those meeting the criteria set out in ReFuelEU Aviation are subject to the obligations. Please refer to the EASA and Commission guidance.

Obligated aircraft operators are determined by the definition of an ‘aircraft operator’ in Article 3(3) of the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation. ‘Aircraft operator’ is defined as a person that operated at least 500 commercial passenger air transport flights, or 52 commercial all-cargo air transport flights departing from Union airports in the previous reporting period or, where it is not possible for that person to be identified, the owner of the aircraft. Aircraft operators on the Commission’s list of aircraft operators, or those meeting the criteria set out in ReFuelEU Aviation are subject to the obligations. Please refer to the EASA and Commission guidance.

Obligated aircraft operators are determined by the definition of an ‘aircraft operator’ in Article 3(3) of the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation. ‘Aircraft operator’ is defined as a person that operated at least 500 commercial passenger air transport flights, or 52 commercial all-cargo air transport flights departing from Union airports in the previous reporting period or, where it is not possible for that person to be identified, the owner of the aircraft. Aircraft operators on the Commission’s list of aircraft operators, or those meeting the criteria set out in ReFuelEU Aviation are subject to the obligations. Please refer to the EASA and Commission guidance.

Article 8 of the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation states that the reporting obligation must be fulfilled by March 31^st of each reporting year, and for the first time in 2025 (for quantities uplifted in 2024). Failure to comply with this reporting requirement may result in enforcement measures by the NEa. This obligation is currently being transposed into national law through the Wet milieubeheer.

The reference in the Webinar to no fines or penalties for the 2024 reporting period pertains to Article 18, Entry into Force, which states that the regulation applies from January 1, 2024. However, Articles 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 are specified to take effect from January 1, 2025. Consequently, the refuelling obligation under Article 5 will apply from January 1, 2025, and enforcement will commence from that date.

The only flights not to be reported are those out of the scope of ReFuelEU Aviation and those for which prior temporary exemptions have been granted under article 5(3) prior to the reporting period.

If an aircraft operator falls below the 90% refuelling obligation threshold outlined in Article 5 (1) due to fuel safety reasons (outlined in article 5(2)), this must be reported.

Yearly non-tanked quantity (tonnes) must be reported in Column G of the EASA reporting template. Only quantities falling below the 90% threshold should be reported under the yearly non-tanked quantity (column G).

Furthermore, yearly tanked quantity for fuel safety rules (tonnes) should be reported in Column H according to the formula provided in the EASA Manual and Commission guidance.

In addition, required evidence must be provided to the verifier, and the competent authority may also request access to this evidence justifying non-compliance with the requirement to uplift at least 90% of the “yearly aviation fuel required” at a given Union airport.

The EASA Manual and Commission guidance provide detailed guidance on the reporting of non-tanked quantities and tanked quantity for fuel safety reasons. Please refer to these guidance documents for more information.

Section 4 of the EASA Manual and Commission guidance provide detailed guidance on the tankering justification and support documentation for the justification. Please refer to these guidance documents for detailed information on the tankering justification under Article 5(2).

Verifiers carry out an independent assessment of the data sources that have been used to collect, process and store during the reporting period and the data quality in the aircraft operator’s report. Aircraft operators must provide independent verifiers with all the relevant supporting documents to facilitate the verification process of the annual report as required by Article 8 RFEUA (and particularly Article 8 (3)).

Once the verifier has concluded the verification, it issues a verification report to the aircraft operator stating whether the report is verified as satisfactory or not. Currently (November 2024) the EASA sustainability portal process for uploading the verification report is carried out by the aircraft operator.  Section 5.3 and 5.4 of the EASA Manual provides additional guidance on verification and data gaps.