EASA 2026 ReFuelEU Aviation Annual Technical Report
EASA’s latest Annual Technical Report has some very promising facts in it: SAF deployment reached 1.1 million tonnes, or 2.8% of aviation fuel supplied at EU airports in 2025—above the initial 2% mandate. This is a great result for the industry and evidence that demand-side policy can unlock SAF uptake.
However, sustained growth will depend on building a robust, diversified domestic feedstock base. Approximately 85% of the feedstocks used were imported, with China accounting for 61% of feedstock origin and used cooking oil (UCO) remaining the dominant input. This dependency presents a strategic exposure to China. While the industry has long advocated for “energy independence”, meaning to move away from being dependent on fossil-fuel producing nations, could this mean a new and different type of dependency?
At the same time, China is rapidly expanding its own HEFA-SPK sector: by late 2025, it had six certified domestic SAF producers with 1.375 million tonnes per year of capacity and export quotas totalling 1.4 million tonnes per year. This positions Chinese producers to compete strongly for both waste-lipid feedstocks and international SAF markets.
It is important, therefore, that Europe complements waste-oil supply chains with scalable European feedstocks—including sustainably cultivated microalgae, residual lipids, cover crops where verifiably compliant with sustainability safeguards, and other advanced biogenic resources—to provide locally controlled, traceable inputs for HEFA production. This should go alongside the continued development of other SAF production pathways, such as ATJ and PtL to meet future mandates.
Developing domestic microalgae production in particular could diversify lipid availability without relying on conventional oil crops or finite waste streams, support regional industrial ecosystems, and reduce exposure to import disruption, price volatility and feedstock-integrity risks.
The report shows a good start and is positive news, but should be considered with scalability in mind.
