Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| INCEPTION IMPACT ASSESSMENT | |
| Inception Impact Assessments aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's plans in order to allow them to provide feedback on the intended initiative and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to make available any relevant information that they may have, including on possible impacts of the different options. | |
| Title of the initiative | European Partnership on Clean Aviation |
| Lead DG (responsible unit) | DG Research and Innovation (RTD.3) |
| Likely Type of initiative | Proposal for a Council Regulation for a European Partnership on Clean Aviation under Horizon Europe |
| Indicative Planning | Q1 2020 |
| Additional Information | - |
| The Inception Impact Assessment is provided for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the Inception impact assessment, including its timing, are subject to change. | |
| A. Context, Problem definition and Subsidiarity Check | |
| Context | |
| The proposal for Horizon Europe, the future EU’s future research and innovation (R&I) programme for 2021-2027, outlines the approach (Article 8) and criteria (Annex III) for R&I partnerships under the umbrella term 'European Partnerships'. According to the political agreement between the Council and European Parliament, “European Partnerships shall be established for addressing European or global challenges only in cases where they will more effectively achieve objectives of Horizon Europe than the Union alone and when compared to other forms of support of the Framework programme”. The overall financial framework for the upcoming partnerships still has to be agreed by the co-legislators. Different forms of partnerships can be implemented depending on needs and criteria. One such form is institutionalised partnerships set up under Article 185 or Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The draft legislation outlines possible areas in which institutionalised partnerships could be set up, including Accelerate competitiveness, safety and environmental performance of EU air traffic, aviation and rail. In the course of the strategic planning, the Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States, has identified ‘Clean Aviation’ as a candidate for such a partnership.  Aviation has long research, development and operational cycles due to its complexity and its safety requirements. Regular technological improvements in the sector increase performance and fuel efficiency. However, these improvements cannot compensate for the continuous increase in air traffic flow, which doubles every 15 years. Developing and integrating promising, ready-to-adopt, technologies involves considerable technological and financial risks. A partnership on Clean Aviation will manage this risk by bringing together the EU aviation supply chain and accelerating market uptake of technologies that have a significantly reduced environmental impact. The main aim is to transition towards deep decarbonisation, which would contribute to the EU’s climate and energy goals. The proposed partnership will also support the key strategic value chain on hydrogen. In line with Horizon Europe’s environmental and sustainability ambitions, the partnership on clean aviation will demonstrate and integrate disruptive technological pathways and further advance promising results from the previous Framework Programmes, notably the Clean Sky programmes. | |
| Problem the initiative aims to tackle | |
| Recent data shows that the aviation sector is growing significantly and persistently, and consequently so is the ecological footprint of aviation.  §EU aviation's CO2 emissions increased from 88 to 171 million tonnes (+95%) between 1990 and 2016 [1](#footnote2) . EU aviation accounted for 20% of global aviation’s CO2 emissions in 2015 [2](#footnote3) . Today, global aviation’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions account for >2% of global GHG emissions.  §While air traffic increases by 4.4% per year (doubling every 15 years) and fuel and CO2 emissions increase by around 3% each year, incremental technology improvements may reduce fuel consumption and emissions by only 1-1.5% per year. Emissions other than CO2 will also rise substantially.  §The aviation sector is a highly regulated market, characterised by very long life-cycles.  §The recent technological and operational achievements will only become noticeable at global aircraft fleet level after 2035, but they will lead to an overall reduction in CO2 and NOx emissions of 13% by 2050, compared to 2014.  While the aviation industry has only recently retrofitted most available incremental technologies for short and medium range aircraft, integrating promising transformative technologies is very risky. The long design and operational cycles of aviation and the highly regulated international framework mean that technological and operational advances will only be noticeable at global aircraft fleet level in 10-15 years' time. Without transformative solutions being rapidly introduced into the next generation aircrafts, it is clear that aviation’s CO2 emissions will rise by around 80% between 2020 and 2050 [3](#footnote4) . This goes against the agreed international objectives of the Paris Agreement, the EU’s targets for environmentally friendly transport, the EU vision for ‘A clean planet for all’, the new EU industrial policy strategy and the EU mobility package.  This makes the proposed Clean Aviation partnership particularly meaningful (i.e. for managing this risk) and means that it should embed elements from other European Partnerships (e.g. key digital technologies, batteries, clean hydrogen and air traffic management). | |
| Basis for EU intervention (legal basis and subsidiarity check) | |
| The legal basis for EU intervention is the Horizon Europe programme (based on Article 182 TFEU). In implementing the programme, the EU may make provisions for participation in research and development undertaken by several Member States or in programmes run jointly by several Member States (in accordance with Article 185 TFEU), or may set up joint undertakings (in accordance with Article 187 TFEU).  The nature and magnitude of the issues are such that action at EU level is needed, rather than the Member States acting alone:  §Although the EU is responsible for less than 20% of the global aviation CO2 emissions, it manufactures 50% of the global civil aviation fleet, which means it has a great responsibility to address the technological and operational breakthroughs that will lead deep decarbonisation.  §EU aviation research needs a consistent and comprehensive ecosystem approach, with clear EU leadership — not only in aircraft technologies, but also in new business models, maintenance, operations and services. This will ensure the biggest impact for people in the EU and the world at large. Furthermore, no single EU country or private company has the necessary financial, technological, and human resources to undertake the risks of an ambitious and transformative deep decarbonisation aviation R&I path on their own. | |
| B. Objectives and Mapping of Policy options | |
| The aim of the proposed European Partnership is to develop a strong vision for the aviation industry and its supply chain, providing direction and making the investment less risky. This can be achieved more effectively with a collective effort, such as a European partnership that provides a long-term framework for innovation driven by EU policy priorities and under EU oversight. Partnerships are a proven way of pooling and aligning expertise, scientific resources, validation platforms and investments and creating economies of scale.  The primary objective is to support the deep decarbonisation of aviation, thereby contributing to the EU’s climate and energy goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The proposed partnership would also support industrial policy objectives by creating sustainable jobs in the EU and ensuring safety, security, and EU leadership in global aviation.  The partnership's work will follow a pre-agreed R&I roadmap setting out milestones, expected deliverables, regular go/no go decision points and monitoring. Flight demonstrators (Technology Readiness Level 6) are expected to be ready by 2027 and to enter into service by 2030-2035.  The relevance of the priority and continuation of support under the Framework programme, including the form of support, will be subject to evaluations and assessments in line with the criteria set out in the Regulation of Horizon Europe.  Mapping of policy options:  Baseline scenario (option 0): No partnership, calls for proposals under Horizon Europe work programmes.  With the baseline option, aviation research and development priorities would be advanced through regular calls under Horizon Europe. This would ensure a loose coordination with Member States through the Programme Committee. The coordination of R&I projects and investments and the definition of a common R&I roadmap would only be at the initiative of stakeholders.  Option 1: A co-programmed European Partnership on aviation research & innovation  A co-programmed European Partnership would involve the European Commission and all the relevant industry stakeholders. It would be set up on the basis of memoranda of understanding and/or contractual arrangements between the Commission and the partners. The partnership's objectives, the partners' financial commitments (including in-kind contributions), key performance and impact indicators, and expected outputs would be clearly specified in the contract. A strategic R&I agenda would be developed by the industrial partners, with jointly agreed R&I priorities fully reflected in Horizon Europe work programmes and related calls for proposals. Industry partners would be responsible for providing their contributions and commitments and for ensuring market uptake of results.  Option 2: An institutional European Partnership on aviation research & innovation (Article 187 initiative)  Establishing an institutional partnership as an EU body would allow the Commission and all relevant public and private partners to participate. The legal status of an EU body confers stability, legal certainty and clarity to the partnership from its inception. As an EU body, it would function under established transparent procedures and be subject to political and budgetary control by EU institutions. The Commission would be part of the governance and the staff of the body would be employed under the EU statutes. The relationship between the Commission and the other partners would be established in the statutes of the body and in other specific contractual arrangements. The EU body would be entrusted with EU budget management tasks.  Other options for partnerships (Article 185 TFEU and co-funded) are not considered suitable because the initiative mainly targets industry. | |
| C. Preliminary Assessment of Expected Impacts | |
| Likely scientific and economic impacts | |
| The proposed European Partnership on Clean Aviation will: (i) contribute to the EU maintaining its global leadership role; (ii) protect or create high-added value jobs in the EU; and (iii) have significant direct and spill-over scientific and economic impacts. It will:  §encourage strategic partnerships with non-aviation sectors to make use of emerging technologies (e.g. low carbon fuels, batteries);  §promote research into new aircraft configurations towards increased aircraft environmental performance; and  §set standards and accelerate certification of new technologies.  By joining forces and pooling resources, SMEs, academia and research centres can accomplish far more than by doing research under traditional Framework Programme projects. An institutionalised partnership provides access to an extensive network of research and collaboration with key industrial partners in the aviation sector. In addition to EU leadership, to benefit people in the EU, the new EU aviation research policy seeks to create a multitude of spin-offs through connections with other ecosystems (e.g. disaster response, space and security). | |
| Likely social impacts | |
| The Clean Aviation partnership is expected to have the following social impacts:  §reduce the environmental impacts of aviation by drastically cutting emissions to help ensure better air quality and lower noise, in particular around airports;  §maintain or further increase safety and security levels, in cooperation with European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA);  §enable new sustainable business models for innovative aircraft technology for future aircrafts and fleet retrofits, exploiting the next generation digitalisation/automation technologies (e.g. urban air mobility) [4](#footnote5) ;  §create a multitude of spin-offs through connections with other ecosystems in critical areas such as disaster response, emergency interventions, space and security to benefit people in the EU; and  §enable new safe and efficient airborne transport modes such as air taxis and drones that have the potential to reduce traffic congestion in highly populated areas, and connect remote regions with a fleet of environment friendly, fast, and largely infrastructure-independent vehicles.  The public and/or civil society are expected to participate in specific areas covered by the proposed partnership, particularly the development of better noise abatement procedures to complement new aircraft noise reduction technologies. The Clean Aviation partnership would collaborate with the proposed air traffic management partnership on this. | |
| Likely environmental impacts | |
| The proposed aviation partnership will focus on tackling energy and climate-change challenges, while ensuring the EU's global competitiveness and sustainable mobility for everyone in the EU. An ecosystem approach that introduces disruptive technologies will help to determine a ‘skip a generation’ mind-set towards meeting the Paris Agreement, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) environmental goals (on global emissions, local air quality and noise) and EU mobility targets.  In particular, the Clean Aviation partnership is expected to have the following environmental impacts:  §reduce all aviation emissions and noise for better environmental and health protection, with an emphasis on electrification (e.g. hybrid-electric/ full-electric);  §reduce the impact of non-CO2 emissions, including cirrus contrails, NOx and SO2 on climate and environment;  §support and promote the use of sustainable alternative fuels (including synthetic fuels and hydrogen); and  §deliver ecological and cost-efficient manufacturing, maintenance, operations, reuse and recycling technologies, including end-of-life procedures (in line with the circular economy). | |
| Likely impacts on fundamental rights | |
| N/A | |
| Likely impacts on simplification and/or administrative burden | |
| A simpler, more strategic and coordinated approach to the setting-up and implementation of European Partnerships under Horizon Europe will significantly reduce the administrative burden for applicants and beneficiaries. Horizon Europe legal basis requires thorough assessment as to the necessity for establishing institutionalised partnerships, and whether other, more flexible partnership forms could achieve the identified objectives. In addition, it lays down requirements (e.g. related to central management of financial contributions, access to data, and links with the monitoring and evaluation framework of Horizon Europe etc.) that support further simplification, harmonisation and more effective implementation. | |
| D. Evidence Base, Data collection and Better Regulation Instruments | |
| Impact assessment | |
| An impact assessment is being prepared to inform the Commission's decision on whether to propose the establishment of an institutionalised European Partnership and to support the preparation of this initiative. If this decision is positive, the impact assessment is likely to be made available in the first quarter of 2020. | |
| Evidence base and data collection | |
| A full impact assessment is required for all partnerships, which might be institutionalised based on Articles 185 and 187 TFEU. In this context, an external study will provide coordinated input for the preparation of impact assessments, which could lead to and would accompany the proposals for institutionalised partnerships (based on Articles 185 and 187 TFEU). The study will be based on desk research, Commission and stakeholder consultation, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis and inputs from panels of experts. It will develop a single common methodology to ensure coordinated inputs to individual impact assessment studies of each envisaged partnership. In addition, the following non-exhaustive data and information is available:  §Flightpath 2050 [5](#footnote6)  and the strategic research and innovation agenda;  §the full reports of the 2018 Clean Sky final evaluation and the Clean Sky 2 mid-term evaluation [6](#footnote7) ;  §the final report of the Clean Sky Technology Evaluator, and the interim reports of the Clean Sky 2 Technology Evaluator; and  §position papers that stakeholders prepared for the continuation of Clean Sky 2 and — more generally — setting the scene for aviation research under Horizon Europe.  The private sector has been asked to provide a roadmap that includes concrete evidence that a new partnership will significantly accelerate the introduction of technologies that can help achieve the partnership's fleet-related objectives, in line with the relevant EU policies. | |
| Consultation of citizens and stakeholders | |
| In line with the Better Regulation guidelines, the Commission seeks to consult stakeholders as widely as possible. The consultation strategy aims to involve a broad range of stakeholders, including national authorities, the research community across the EU, industry, EU institutions and bodies, and others.  A structured consultation of Member States in the Shadow Strategic Configuration of the Programme Committee Horizon Europe in May-June 2019 provided early input into the preparatory work.  A single open public consultation from mid-2019 (in English, French and German) will cover all 12 potential institutionalised partnerships based on Articles 185 and 187 TFEU. It will collect input from a broad range of stakeholders, on both the overall approach and the individual candidates for institutionalised partnerships based on Article 185 or Article 187 TFEU. It can be accessed via the Commission's Have Your Say web portal. As the results are expected to inform debate during the ‘R&I days’ (Brussels, 24-26 September), it might be necessary to shorten slightly the 12 week consultation period.  Once all consultation activities are closed, the Commission will publish a synopsis report (summarising the results) on the consultation page. | |

:   [(1)](#footnoteref2)
       European Aviation Environmental Report 2019.
:   [(2)](#footnoteref3)
       ibid.
:   [(3)](#footnoteref4)
       JRC World Climate and Energy Outlook 2018.
:   [(4)](#footnoteref5)
       Potential areas of research and development will have to be investigated in the impact assessment.
:   [(5)](#footnoteref6)
       
    <https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/modes/air/doc/flightpath2050.pdf>
    .
:   [(6)](#footnoteref7)
       
    <https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/other_reports_studies_and_documents/clean_sky_-_2nd_interim_assessment.pdf>
    .

[Top](#document1)