On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2022

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SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Transport and Tourism calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Welcomes the finding of the Court of Auditors that the transactions underlying the accounts of the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (‘JU’) for the financial year 2022 are legal and regular in all material respects;

2. Commends the launch of the Clean Aviation (‘CA’) program in 2022, with a projected funding of EUR 4.1 billion, set to run until 2031;

3. Acknowledges that the JU in 2022 ran two programs: Clean Sky 2 (‘CS2’) program with EU financial contribution of EUR 1 755 million and CA program with EU financial contribution up to EUR 1 700;

4. Notes that according to the Annual report of the European Court of Auditors on EU Joint Undertakings for the financial year 2022, the JU’s final budget for 2022 was € 411.2 million in commitment appropriations and €415.3 million in payment appropriations (Title V unused included);

5. Applauds that the JU has had a 100% rate of implementation for the commitment appropriations in 2022 and 89% for the payment appropriations;

6. Notes that implementation rate for the JU’s administrative payment budget (Title 2) stood at a low 54%; as outlined in the JU's report on budgetary and financial management, this was primarily attributed to the provision of IT and communication services in the last quarter of 2022 and to be paid in 2023, and reduced costs for services provided by the Commission; calls a strategic planning to address the challenges identified and enhance the efficiency of administrative payment budget use;

7. Notes that the JU has reported in-kind contributions for operational activities of the value of EUR 2 194 million for the CS2 programme and at least EUR 2 400 million for the CA programme, the JU has certified cumulative in-kind contributions for additional activities for EUR 1 218,5 million out of a reported total of EUR 1 376,1 million;

8. Welcomes the first open Call for Proposals by the JU, resulting in 19 Grant Agreements by year-end, totalling EUR 654 million around three core thrusts: Hybrid Electric Regional aircraft, Hydrogen-powered aircraft and Ultra-Efficient Short and Medium Range aircraft; the call comprehended 14 topics covering 13 Innovation Actions and one Coordination Support Action; in total 244 participants were selected across 24 different countries;

9. Welcomes the 20 projects to steer aviation towards a sustainable future; notes that the call has brought together a wide array of public and private partners, research centres and academia to find impactful solutions that can deliver sustainable aircraft and, climate-neutral aviation future, supported by a budget of €654 million in EU grant funding;

10. Welcomes that in September 2022, Clean Aviation became a founding member of the Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA) which brings together public and private stakeholders from across the aeronautical sector to support the roll-out of hydrogen-powered and electric aircraft;

11. Notes the CS2 programme’s transition to the delivery phase and acknowledges the increased workload in 2022 due to simultaneous management of several CS2 projects alongside the launch of the CA programme;

12. Notes an independent study revealing a €8.6 billion estimated socio-economic benefit for Europe from Clean Sky 2 Programme; further highlights the study’s findings that the Clean Aviation programme’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) is both “resilient” and “fit for purpose”; points out that this would apply even in a wide range of possible economic scenarios, potential developments and structural changes to the aviation system;

13. Salutes the progress in R&I, particularly engine manufacturing and SAF technologies and calls to intensify the research to contribute to the greening of aviation; urges the Commission to provide funding to implement new technologies; calls further to provide incentives for the SAF production to allow economy of scale production and overall market uptake of the sustainable fuels;

14. Calls for sufficient investment in R&I for future aircraft such as ultra-efficient aircraft architectures –making use of highly integrated, ultra-efficient thermal propulsion systems and providing disruptive improvements in fuel efficiency; notes that this will be essential for the transition to low/zero emission energy sources (synthetic fuels, non-drop-in fuels such as hydrogen);

15. Emphasizes that mid-2030s will bring a new generation of large aircraft platforms aiming towards sustainable climate-neutral flight; while hybrid/electric energy architectures and ultra-efficient aircraft designs will pave the way towards climate-neutral aviation on routes of less than 1 000 km, aircraft for classical short- and medium-range distances rely on ultra-efficient thermal energy-based propulsion technologies using sustainable drop-in and non-drop-in fuels to enable climate-neutral flight; the novel aircraft and propulsion concepts will enable low source noise and low noise flight procedures;

16. Calls to expand and foster integration of climate-neutral aviation research and innovation value chains, including academia, research organisations, industry and SMEs, exploiting synergies with national and European programmes, while facilitating the uptake of industry-related skills across the value chain;

17. Welcomes that the ex-post audit results in 2022 had a representative error rate of 1.56% and that the corresponding residual error rate of 0.43%, staying well below the targeted threshold of 2%;

18. Acknowledges the efforts of the JU to enhance gender balance within its operations; recognizing the specific challenges presented by the technical nature of its focus areas, stresses the importance of continuous improvement in promoting diversity and gender equality;

19. Acknowledges that the follow-up on the Court of Auditors' 2021 recommendation concerning the use of interim staff remains pending; urges the Undertaking to promptly resolve this matter.

20. Proposes that Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the Undertaking for the implementation of the budget for 2022.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

23.1.2024

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

33

0

2

Members present for the final vote

Magdalena Adamowicz, Andris Ameriks, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Ciarán Cuffe, Karima Delli, Carlo Fidanza, Mario Furore, Isabel García Muñoz, Elsi Katainen, Kateřina Konečná, Bogusław Liberadzki, Peter Lundgren, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Tilly Metz, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Caroline Nagtegaal, Philippe Olivier, Rovana Plumb, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, Dominique Riquet, Thomas Rudner, Vera Tax, Achille Variati, Petar Vitanov, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Lucia Vuolo

Substitutes present for the final vote

Markus Ferber, Vlad Gheorghe, Roman Haider, Pär Holmgren, Ljudmila Novak, Dorien Rookmaker

Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote

Viola von Cramon-Taubadel

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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