The European Union’s Green Deal aims to decarbonize all sectors of the economy with the long-term goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and reduce the bloc-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. However, business aviation and general aviation industry groups fear that some of the policies will in fact undermine these objectives.
Of particular concern is the pending addition of aviation in the EU’s “taxonomy for sustainable finance,” a classification system that defines which industries are environmentally sustainable and can be considered green investments. According to the European Commission, this comprehensive and highly technical toolset will “create security for investors, protect private investors from greenwashing, help companies to become more climate-friendly, mitigate market fragmentation, and help shift investments where they are most needed.”
Much to the sector’s frustration, business aviation is not included in the draft text setting the taxonomy criteria for aviation, unlike airlines flying regional ATR and Embraer aircraft or narrowbody or widebody Airbus or Boeing airliners.
Commercial aircraft will have to fulfill certain criteria and conditions to be considered for green investment, but the EU's proposed technical screening criteria for manufacturing of aircraft—also covering repairs, maintenance, overhauls, retrofits, designs, repurposes, or upgrades—explicitly excludes both aircraft below 5.7 tonnes (12,566 pounds) and all aircraft “produced for private or commercial business aviation.”
The draft text makes one small caveat, namely for aircraft with zero direct (tailpipe) CO2 emissions. However, aircraft that fly on fully electric or 100 percent green hydrogen power are still in their research phase and EASA has certified only one aircraft in this category—the two-seat Pipistrel Velis Electro trainer.
“Not even hybrid electric aircraft are included in the EU taxonomy. This means that general aviation and business aviation aircraft are out,” General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) v-p for European affairs Kyle Martin told AIN. “Such an exclusion targeting a specific sector of an industry is without precedent in the EU taxonomy for any other transport mode and is wholly unjustified. There are no similar provisions for exclusive yachts and private cars, so why are we being left out?”
“My personal opinion is that this is patently unfair, politicized, and simply unsupported by the facts,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier. “Business aviation has always been the cradle for innovation and really engaged in decarbonization,” he maintained, disclosing that the company is considering legal actions for breach of the principle of equality.
GAMA and the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), as well as some of their members, have engaged extensively with the European Commission over the past two years to try to reverse the proposed exclusion of general and business aviation from the EU taxonomy.
“Despite our efforts, the text did not change,” Martin complained. “We are still trying but it is like pushing against a brick wall. It is all about gesture politics and creating the perception that [the European Commission] is actively mitigating climate change by taking these ‘elite business jets’ out of the green investment classification. There is no scientific or factual validation for it.”
As a matter of fact, EASA’s most recent European Plan for Aviation Safety 2023- 2025 states that the general aviation and unmanned aircraft systems industry “act as catalysts for innovation.” Additionally, Eurocontrol considers business aviation as a “test bed for sustainability innovations” due to its possibilities of investing in sustainable aviation fuel and the latest aircraft technology.
Examples of environmental innovations that are developed and deployed by business and general aviation before being scaled up for commercial aviation include the use of winglets, head-up displays, combined vision systems, and advanced navigation systems enabling optimized trajectories. Further, this segment is pioneering the development of hybrid electric, fully electric, and hydrogen propulsion.
GAMA estimates that, as it stands now, up to 95 percent of Europe’s certified civil aircraft fleet will be excluded by the technical screening criteria of the EU taxonomy and thus not be regarded as green investments. Besides business and corporate aviation, these aircraft cover a diverse range of activities, such as search-and-rescue, emergency medical services, express cargo services, and agriculture (including crop spraying).
The Commission’s proposal does not differentiate by the origin of manufacturing and so applies to EU and non-EU aircraft, parts, and equipment.
According to Martin, it is difficult to quantify the EU taxonomy’s impact partly because it is a voluntary scheme and it does not impose legal requirements on financial institutions to invest in a way that is 100 percent taxonomy compliant. However, the regulation does require that certain financial institutions disclose the proportion of their revenues, capital expenditure, and operating expenditure derived from or related to products or services associated with economic activities that qualify as environmentally sustainable.
“What this will translate to in real terms for OEMs, operators, the supply chain, FBOs, MRO providers, and lessors, will depend on how the financial institutions will be following this,” Martin noted. “We are concerned that the access to financing will become more difficult.
“Given the global nature of this industry, the exclusion of this sector from the EU taxonomy will inevitably distort global competition and disadvantage the whole general aviation and business aviation ecosystem in the EU.” For instance, he pointed out that the UK has not announced plans to develop a similar set of rules.
Bernhard Fragner, CEO of Austrian private jet operator GlobeAir, anticipates the new EU approach will hit the business aviation sector in multiple ways. “It will become more difficult to secure financing [for the acquisition of aircraft], so we will need to access more private equity which is more expensive. This, in turn, will render the flights more expensive and flights will become accessible for a smaller group,” he told AIN.
As a result, he expects consolidation will intensify and “our industry will become smaller. I am convinced about that.” Asked whether he sees a risk of financing, ownership of aircraft, and jobs transferring abroad, to non-EU countries, he responded, “For sure. Absolutely.”
For Trappier, not recognizing business aviation as green investments will represent a handicap for some of the OEM’s subcontractors. “The SMEs and mid-caps in our supply chain will be hit first. The exclusion means that it will be harder for them to access financing while they are already experiencing issues,” he noted, while highlighting the risk of distortion of competition in a field where the EU has until now strong international assets.
“In the U.S., industries are receiving subsidies to become carbon neutral and making rapid progress. Europe is putting less money on the table and imposing standards,” he said. “I'm not very happy, indeed, about this European taxonomy and this over-regulation imposed upon us by Europe.”
The European Commission published the draft text excluding general and business aviation from the taxonomy’s scope in June. The text of the Delegated Act is now being reviewed by the Council of the EU (member states) and the European Parliament. They have until later this month to reject or approve the text without the possibility of amendment.