Welcome to the Alliance
The Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance (RLCF Alliance) is an initiative dedicated to accelerating the production and supply of sustainable fuels for aviation and waterborne transport. The Alliance is a key enabler of the EU's sustainable transport transition and supports the objectives of the ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime regulations.
This cross-sector collaboration, launched in 2022, brings together a broad range of stakeholders, from fuel producers, offtakers, financial institutions, technology providers, civil society, governments, and other stakeholders across the fuel value chain, bridging supply and demand to drive a cleaner transport future.
Our vision
The objective of the Alliance is to ensure that aviation and waterborne transport have sufficient access to renewable and low-carbon fuels, while taking into account the future use of these fuels in road transport. In this way, the Alliance contributes to reducing the transport sector’s GHG emissions by 90% by 2050 while supporting EU industrial competitiveness.
The European aviation and maritime sectors depend on a multi-step value chain to secure sustainable fuels: feedstocks - such as biomass and waste, hydrogen and carbon dioxide - are sourced, converted through advanced processes, and distributed to airports and ports across Europe. Investors, technology firms, and financial institutions provide essential funding and innovation, while governments and civil society ensure fuels meet environmental standards.
Sustainable fuel supply is still developing, with aviation and maritime sectors facing limited availability. For project developers, key challenges include securing reliable offtake agreements and managing financial risks in a new and evolving market, relying on innovative production pathways. As ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime regulations drive growing demand, expanding production, storage, and distribution capacity will be essential.
How the Alliance is set up
The RLCF Alliance is governed by its General Assembly, where all members meet annually to approve work plans, review progress, and address key challenges in sustainable fuel production and supply. Supporting this body, a 20-member Steering Group - representing aviation, maritime, fuel production, and finance, and chaired by the European Commission - sets strategic priorities, establishes task forces to execute initiatives, and serves a one-year term. Task forces, led by industry experts, focus on delivering actionable outcomes, while the Alliance Secretariat provides operational and administrative support to ensure smooth coordination.
General assemblyThe general assembly convenes all Alliance members once a year to review and approve the work plan, including its operational goals and milestones. During the assembly, members are invited to discuss current challenges in producing and supplying sustainable fuels, assess the Alliance’s progress, and strengthen connections across the network.
Steering groupThe steering group drives the Alliance’s strategic direction by shaping its annual work programme. It proposes initiatives to develop and strengthen a project pipeline, along with mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of sustainable fuels. Additionally, the steering group defines the structure and objectives of new task forces, which turn strategic ideas into tangible outcomes.
SecretariatThe Alliance secretariat provides ongoing operational and administrative support to ensure the smooth running of the Alliance’s activities. It assists the steering group, task forces, and members in coordinating initiatives, facilitating communication, and delivering key objectives.
Steering group
Chaired by the European Commission, the steering group is made up of twenty members representing the aviation, maritime, fuel production and finance sectors. Four vice-chairs, one for each sector, are elected by the Alliance members to support the Commission in steering the group's work.
- Pillar: Aviation
Nathalie Stubler - Safran
Chief Sustainability Officer- Pillar: Maritime
Anaëlle Boudry - European Shipowners (ECSA)
Senior Policy Advisor- Pillar: Fuel producers
Alessandro Bartelloni - FuelsEurope
Director- Pillar: Finance
Dimitrios Koufos - EBRD
Head of Sustainable Business, Industry, Agri & Commerce
Task forces
LabellingDevelop an Alliance labelling scheme to identify and highlight exemplary projects within the RLCF Alliance project pipeline.
FinancingThe main objective of the task force is to catalyse and further develop expertise and operative understanding of de-risking instruments and other enabling financial support actions and mechanisms to finance large-scale renewable and low-carbon fuels projects in the EU.
MappingThe main objective of the task force is to create an up-to-date understanding of the market of renewable and low-carbon fuel projects in Europe, by creating a list of such projects based on public information.
InfrastructureThe strategic focus of the task force is to accelerate the deployment and integration of infrastructure that enables the scaling-up of RLCFs across the European Union.
