Clean Fuels for All: EU Refining Industry proposes a potential pathway for climate neutrality by 2050

The ambition of the European Union is to be climate neutral by 2050. The European refining industry supports the same ambition.

Our industry is transforming, and we have developed a comprehensive potential pathway of how we, together with our partners, can contribute to meeting the 2050 climate neutrality challenge.

In concrete terms, we outline, based on the current technology knowledge and cost estimate, a potential pathway to 2050 to develop low-carbon liquid fuels for road, maritime and air transport. To deliver such pathway an investment estimated between €400 to 650 billion will be needed. Major investments, in addition to those already deployed, could start in the next years, with first-of-a-kind plants at industrial scale potentially coming into operation at the latest by 2025.

Our Low-carbon liquid fuels pathway shows how a 100 Mt CO₂/y reduction could be delivered in transport by 2035, equivalent to the CO₂ savings of 50 million Battery Electric Vehicles on the road, and how it could contribute to European Union’s climate neutrality by 2050.

Low-carbon liquid fuels will play a critical role in the energy transition and in achieving carbon neutrality in all transport modes, as the global demand for competitive liquid fuels is expected to progressively increase. Alongside electrification and hydrogen technologies, low-carbon liquid fuels will remain essential even beyond 2050, bringing important benefits to the European economy and society.

We stand ready to enhance our collaboration with policymakers, our value chains and other partners to create the right conditions and policy framework for investments in new technologies to address the climate challenge.