24.2.2022
Official Journal of the European Union
EN
L 45/1575 COMMISSION PREPARATORY ACTIONS
CHAPTER PA 09 — ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE ACTION (cont'd) PA 09 22
2022
PA 09 22 01
Preparatory action — EU Clearing House for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Figures (Differentiated appropriations) Appropriations 2022 Commitments
Appropriations 2021
Payments
2 000 000
Commitments
Payments
Outturn 2020 Commitments
Payments
500 000
Remarks The primary aim of an EU Clearing House is to support producers wishing to certify Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) against the fuel specification standards providing a single and independent European capability.
It will also remove technical barriers to increased SAF use.
It will cover the definition, validation and test of the concept to be implemented in Europe by setting up the required European capabilities and tools.
PA 09 22 02
Preparatory action — EU Grassland Watch Figures (Differentiated appropriations) Appropriations 2022 Commitments
2 500 000
Appropriations 2021
Payments
Commitments
Payments
Outturn 2020 Commitments
Payments
625 000
Remarks Natural and semi-natural grasslands are amongst the richest European ecosystems in terms of plant, insect and bird species diversity.
Many Natura 2000 sites throughout the Union have been legally designated to maintain and restore this extraordinary grassland biodiversity and the ecosystem services that flow from them.
Grasslands often depend on dedicated management regimes like mowing or grazing.
Despite a high level of protection on paper and several successful conservation and restoration initiatives at local level, the biodiversity of Natura 2000 grasslands has suffered further declines over the last few decades.
The key to turning this around is to maintain the necessary mowing and grazing practices, with low fertilizer input, at a landscape scale as part of sustainable and economically viable farming system.
The evolution of grassland cover in Natura 2000 is increasingly well monitored in certain parts of the Union.
This information is still highly heterogeneous and often not easily accessible to the public.
Moreover, data on relative effectiveness of Natura 2000 site management is largely lacking.
The strengthened earth observation capacities of the Union through its COPERNICUS programme offer unprecedented observation potential to map and monitor land cover with high accuracy.
The current Copernicus catalogue of land cover products for Natura 2000 is only updated once every six years and offers mostly generic land cover information that is predominately used by experts.
As such, the potential to apply these observation capacities for grassland monitoring and management is not yet fully exploited.