L'Agence De l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie (ADEME), the French public agency that deals with efficiency energy, resource and waste management, climate and of pollution, presented its report "Electro-carburants en 2050" focused on the possibility of producing synthetic fuels in France at the the need to have plenty of them Extremely significant for the decarbonisation of sectors aviation and maritime in accordance with the strategy established by the Union European.

ADEME recalled that the recent European ReFuelEU regulations Aviation and FuelEU Maritime set for the period from 2025 to 2050 ambitious targets for the progressive use of fuels sustainable: for air transport, the regulation sets a minimum 35% of synthetic fuels by 2050 and for transport 80% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of marine fuels. The agency's report notes that the production of these e-fuels in France, however, would require low-carbon electricity to produce hydrogen and CO2, which will have to be non-fossil from 2041.

The report presents, through two scenarios, the assessment of the about the volumes of electricity used to produce hydrogen and biogenic CO2, the emission of which is considered climate-neutral, which would be necessary to Achieving the decarbonisation targets of the maritime sectors and aeronautics by 2050. In this regard, in order to determine the different possible scenarios, ADEME has hypothesized the production in France of all e-fuel needs and crossed two Determining parameters: the performance of the production processes of e-fuel and the level of air and sea traffic.

The first scenario, which is more energy-intensive, foresees that, as part of the energy mix envisaged on the basis of the energy demand, by 2050 the share of synthetic fuels will be by 70%. In the most energy-intensive scenario, with increasing levels of air and sea traffic, the needs of electricity for the synthesis of e-fuels and biogenic CO2 are very substantial, amounting to 175 terawatt hours - i.e. the energy produced by about 13 reactors pressurised water - of which 108 for the aeronautics and about 66 terawatt hours for the maritime sector, and 18.6 million tonnes of biogenic CO2, of which 12.4 million tonnes for the and 6.3 million tonnes for the which would require the development of maritime infrastructure, dedicated to the collection and transport of this CO2. The use of CO2 biogenic plant to produce synthetic fuels - specifies the report - would also compete with the need to store it in the soil and subsoil to reach the carbon neutrality, making the energy cycle and even more complex.

The second energy-intensive scenario involves a demand for energy produced from synthetic fuels of 35%, with resources to be mobilised that would amount to 44-68 terawatt hours of electricity and 5.8-7.3 million tonnes of CO2 Biogenic. In this case, experts note, the objectives decarbonisation of aviation and maritime transport would seem achievable.

In light of these scenarios, ADEME recommended A "reasoned" implementation of synthetic fuels in order to avoid penalising other sectors that will need electricity and biogenic CO2 to decarbonise, such as such as industry and land transport. In addition, the agency stressed the need to prioritise electricity and CO2 resources on a national scale, e.g. as part of the future French strategy for energy and to implement short-term policies to moderate growth of international traffic and to encourage the transition to other mode of transport for short distances.

In addition, ADEME specified that its report has several limitations and requires future in-depth studies on Several points: first of all on the location on French territory of e-fuel production units, to be considered in depending on the proximity of a biogenic CO2 source and the availability of the power grid for the connection of the electrolysers. In addition, according to the agency, it should be carried out a comprehensive environmental assessment of fuels synthetics throughout their entire life cycle, in particular of the overall climate impact of these fuels and the their use. Future evaluations will need to take greater account of the economic aspects, in particular for the compare the competitiveness of production in France and abroad in order to assess the possibility of imports. Finally, ADEME pointed out that the difficulty of to mobilise biogenic CO2 may require the use of direct capture of CO2 in the air (Direct Air Capture), a technology that is not yet mature, whose impacts, such as consumption, thermal and electrical energy, should be mitigated and should therefore be taken into account.