The rising fuel prices, the energy dependence on imports and the environmental concerns, like climate change or local air quality, have led to investigate the development of alternative fuels.

The security of supply and the economic and environmental benefits from alternative fuels are very important. However, it is important to balance the impact and benefits throughout their whole life cycle (production, transport and use) and to establish criteria to ensure their sustainability.

Not all alternative fuels are able to mitigate the greenhouse gases emissions. Some of those are just emerging as cheaper alternatives or only for improving air quality.

OBSA is leading, together with the Spanish government and with the participation of several key stakeholders, the Spanish initiative for the production and consumption of bio jet fuel for aviation that seeks to foster the development of an alternative, safe and sustainable biojet fuel industry through the development and implementation of the complete value chain.

The European Commission presented in June 2011 the European Advanced Biofuels Flight Path Initiative, which sets the objective to achieve in the EU an annual production of two million tons of sustainable biofuels for aviation in 2020. This initiative is part of the UE Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan). It is explained in a technical paper (2 million tons per year: A performing biofuels supply chain for EU aviation) and it´s part of the UE Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan).

• Biocombustibles (spanish only)
• Plan de vuelo (spanish only)
• Primer vuelo transoceánico comercial (spanish only)

OBSA has developed a descriptive report on alternative fuels: Combustibles alternativos para aviación (August, 2010; Spanish only)