Our Political demands

Openness to technology in climate protection policy.
We believe that a regulatory approach open to all technologies, and hence the promotion of synthetic liquid and gaseous fuels, is the most efficient path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this way sustainability, innovation, competition and acceptance can all be reconciled.

Holistic economy for hydrogen-derived products in Europe.
Through the production and use of hydrogen-based products such as eFuels, Europe can be at the forefront of global technology and thus also secure its competitiveness as a location for industry. This requires a regulatory framework and appropriate market conditions. It is the task of the European Union to guarantee a holistic approach to setting the necessary production requirements and regulatory standards, including for eFuels.

More ambitious quotas and mandates. 
In the beginning quotas and mandates in combination with high penalties for non-compliance are necessary to initiative a demand. Investors and project developers can estimate a clear future demand and marginal costs. More eFuels will also result in more CO2 reduction. The eFuel Alliance wants to achieve at least 5% eFuels in the European fuel market by 2030. Therefore, quotas in the Renewable Energy Directive, FuelEU maritime and ReFuelEU aviation have to be increased in the next reviews.

Change of the energy taxation.
The positive contribution that eFuels and sustainable biofuels can make to climate protection must be taken into account in energy taxation. The tax rate for low carbon energy carriers should be reduced as proposed by the European Commission to incentivise the production of renewable fuels. If an energy tax is based on genuine environmental criteria, this invariably leads to lower consumer prices and increases the affordability of eFuels.

 Recognition of eFuels in the EU emission standards for new vehicles.
In the EU new passenger cars with an internal combustion engine should be banned in 2035. In 2040, 90% of all trucks shall be electrified. This would signifanctly shrink a potential eFuel market in the road sector, decrease investments in renewable fuels and limit the mobility behavior of many European citizien. The eFuel Alliance fights for fair competition between all climate-neutral mobility solutions. Therefore, eFuels need to be recognized in the CO2 emission standards for new vehicles. Currently only emissions at the exhaust pipe are measured which lead to the misleading fact that an electric vehicle always has zero gram CO2 - even charged with electricity from fossil power plants - and a vehicle with an internal combustion engine always has the fossil tailpipe value - even with 100% eFuels. Three ways to recognize eFuels exist: 1. A new vehicle class for vehicles which are exclusively using eFuels over lifetime. 2. A carbon correction factor which reduce the tailpipe CO2 value in accordance to the average share of renewable fuels in the market. 3. A voluntary accounting system to offset remaining CO2 emissions if manufacturers can prove that additional amounts of eFuels are brought into market. All options are not mutually exclusive and can be used in combination.

Strengthening international cooperation to set up global production..
With the help of eFuels, globally generated electricity from renewable energies can be used worldwide for the first time. That is because eFuels are easy to store and transport and thus create the possibility to produce and import renewable energies globally in the form of liquid and gaseous energy carriers. This makes a decisive contribution to the global energy transition by building a climate-friendly energy system that helps develop the resources of economically weaker regions.

More pragmatic rules for eFuel production. 
The EU has set restrictive rules for the production of eFuels. If electrcitiy is taken from the grid only new renewable installations (not older than 36 months) which temporally (hourly from 2030 onwards) and geographically (same bidding zone) correlates with the electricity consumption in the electrolysis are allowed. Industrial CO2 sources are banned in 2041 and need to be in an effective carbon pricing system (similar to EU-ETS) which does not exist outside of Europe. These rules make eFuel production unnecessary expensive and complex in an early market phase. Many investment decisions are postponed or cancelled due to these impractical conditions.