Role of e-fuels in the European transport system (literature review)

In December 2015, COP21 in Paris made an important step to address the risks posed by climate change and to keep the global temperature increase to “well below 2°C” and drive efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 degrees. To achieve these goals, the European Union (EU) is exploring different mid-century scenarios leading to an EU low-carbon economy by 2050. To support the EU low emissions strategy, Concawe is exploring a cross-sectorial Low Carbon Pathways (LPC) programme, identifying opportunities and challenges for different low carbon technologies to achieve a significant reduction of the CO₂ emissions associated with both the manufacturing and use of refined products in Europe in the medium (2030) and longer-term (2050). As part of the LCP programme, this report is a literature review on e-fuels, which aims to build a better understanding of the e-fuel production technologies and implications in terms of efficiency, greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction, technology readiness level, environmental impact, investment, costs and potential demand. The main recent state-of-the-art publications have been identified and compared in this literature review, covering detailed assessments, presentations, technology providers and position papers, helping to define a better picture of the potential role of these low-carbon fuels in Europe.