Book and Claim for sustainable fuels and all transport modes

The objective is to assess the need & feasibility of an accountability system for sustainable alternative fuels in the EU transport sector (so called 'Book&Claim', meaning the sustainable alternative fuel is physically used elsewhere but formally associated to another specific transport operation) and will do the following.

• Analyse of the existing EU legislative framework, primarily including the Directive 2009/28/EC (RED), Directive 2003/87/EC (EU ETS), Regulation 2023/1804 (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure), Regulation (EU) 2019/631 (CO2 emissions from cars and vans), Regulation 2023/1805 (Fuel EU Maritime) and Regulation 2023/2405 (Re Fuel EU Aviation), with the objective of identifying the viable options for the legally sound set up of a system that would allow 'claiming' the benefits of specific sustainable alternative fuels used elsewhere (both in terms of achievement of specific sustainable alternative fuels targets and in terms of financial benefits deriving from the use of specific sustainable alternative fuels).
• Analyse of the existing non-EU legislative framework, primarily assessing any existing barriers for the full deployment (in different non-EU countries) of the established sustainability certification and traceability framework, having as a term of comparison the Renewable Energy Directive III (2018/2001), in non-EU countries. The study will assess barriers stemming from different national legal orders as well as identify other technical barriers resulting from different technical operation system in 3rd countries. This assessment is preliminary to a possible “Book & Claim” mechanisms extended worldwide. The worldwide extension should also assess how the available data under such mechanisms may be integrated or linked to the traceability tool of the Union Database, deployed under article 31a of the Renewable Energy Directive III (2018/2001) in order to avoid double claims or double counting of the same energy units in the EU and in the non-EU countries concerned. The study will prioritise the analyses on those area of the world that have the largest trade volumes with the EU, such as US, North Africa and Singapore. The study will necessitate an in-depth analysis of the legal framework and technologies for the traceability of the rules on a number of non-EU countries, and comparing them with the rules in the EU.
• Identify and explore possible ways where an accounting mechanism could facilitate compliance with EU regulations for all actors involved in the production and distribution of sustainable alternative fuels and those actors in the transport sector involved in their use. The scope includes the fuels that available technologies allow to be used in transport, distinguishing by fuel type, including by the feedstock and by the (electric) energy eventually used for its production, the environmental and financial costs of the production and the distribution.
• Check the economic benefit of introducing a flexibility mechanism such as the ‘Book&Claim’ and the effects on enhancing or slowing down the deployment of a sustainable alternative fuels production and distribution network in the EU. It will consider if ‘Book&Claim’ can be limited to the EU scope or be extended worldwide, including in the second case a rough estimate if this can favour the development of production and distribution elsewhere than in the EU. Particular attention should be given to the IMO and ICAO ongoing processes of recognition of sustainable fuels.