ePure launches legal challege against EU’s Refuel EU Aviation Regulation

In Belgium, European renewable ethanol producers have launched a new legal challenge, now directed to the EU’s RefuelEU Aviation Regulation, charging that it improperly excludes crop-based biofuels from the effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from air transport.

It’s the second legal challenge from the EU renewable ethanol industry to be raised in recent months alleging discrimination in EU policymaking against RED-compliant crop-based biofuels despite their proven sustainability and benefits for emissions-reduction. In December 2023 the industry filed a similar case against the FuelEU Maritime Regulation.

The new aviation Court action comes from companies representing nearly all of the EU’s production of renewable ethanol, who are seeking to annul specific sections of the RefuelEU Aviation Regulation that exclude crop-based biofuels from the definition of sustainable aviation fuel.