As anticipated in the Clean Industrial Deal and the Competitiveness Compass, the European Commission published on 5 November 2025 the Communication on the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), setting out a common approach to boost investment in renewable and low-carbon fuels for aviation and waterborne transport, placing these fuels at the centre of Europe’s transport decarbonisation efforts, while recognizing the need for investment support to scale up production.
To ensure that the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan delivers tangible results, several key elements should guide its implementation.
First, predictability remains essential for investor confidence, as fuel producers are on track to meet current bio-SAF mandates and are well positioned to reach 2030 targets. At the same time, demand-side, technology-neutral policies and long-term market signals are critical to fix current supply-demand imbalances in the SAF market, and create a viable business case for scaling renewable and low-carbon fuels across aviation and maritime.
Second, bridging the cost differential with conventional fuels requires a framework that secures long-term market visibility for renewable and low-carbon technologies and provides targeted support. This should be combined with effective risk-mitigation tools, such as well-designed Contracts for Difference (CfDs or CCfDs), or dedicated support via ETS, through the structured and ring-fenced recycling of ETS revenues to back new projects, especially capital-intensive e-fuels plants. Lastly, the certification framework needs to be reinforced, as feedstock availability remains a key constraint. The EU should provide clear, timely guidance on the eligibility and certification of additional RED Annex IX feedstocks to give investors certainty and enable scale-up.
While the recognition, support, and targeted measures for renewable and low-carbon fuels for aviation and maritime are welcome, the exclusion of road transport from the STIP is regrettable.
Road transport also requires all viable decarbonisation solutions, as part of a broader industrial ecosystem: scaling up sustainable aviation or maritime fuels also generates renewable fuel streams suitable for road transport as part of the same production processes. Excluding road therefore does not protect or prioritise sustainable fuels for aviation and maritime; it risks weakening the overall scale-up of clean fuel supply.
As a result, road transport should be included in the STIP and granted stable, technology-neutral rules that accelerate renewable and low-carbon fuel production, to avoid European industrial decline, job losses and weaker delivery of climate goals.