studio Gear Up works with organisations and companies to strengthen their strategic position in a circular economy
climate neutral fossil-free biobased circular economy
studio Gear Up works with
organisations and companies to strengthen their strategic
position in a
fossil-free biobased circular climate neutral
economy
Latest projects and publications
Analysis of SAF allowances (FEETS) – 2024-price update
February 2025, the European Commission adopted a new support mechanism on ‘SAF allowances’: used to bridge the price gap for the use of alternative fuels to accelerate the roll out of SAF.
We reviewed this mechanism in order to assess its expected impact on supporting the development of SAF market. We conclude that the policy design would require additional policy instruments to support the broader development of the SAF market.
Current POME-based biofuels in EU fall within current production potential
According to studio Gear Up’s numerical analysis, the current volume of POME-biofuels deployed in the EU are in the range of current production volumes of POME residues. We advise to keep a close look on the future volumes of POME-based biofuels, given the upper limits of production. Strengthening the information position of renewable fuels supply chains with more frequent auditing and historical data of POME-oil production are needed.
SAF allowances may not be the best instrument to ramp up SAF production
Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) are renewable fuels that replace fossil based kerosine in aircrafts and are seen as an important option to mitigate climate emissions in the aviation sector. Generally, these alternative fuels are more expensive than their fossil counterpart, kerosene. In order to support the uptake of SAF, the European Commission has introduced several policy instruments.
Mobility Monitor 2025
We developed for NOVE an annually recurring Mobility Monitor that provides insights on vehicle fleet volumes development and indicates how the liquid and gaseous fuel demand, as well as the deployment of electricity, in The Netherlands transport sector is expected to grow or decline over time.
How to understand the dynamics of ETS for renewable fuels in the maritime sector
The maritime sector faces a fast-changing policy landscape. With the maritime sector now included in the scope of the EU emissions trading system and FuelEU Maritime fully applied from this year, fast action will be required by those across the
Technical Coordinator IEA Bioenergy
We’re proud to share that Eric van den Heuvel has been appointed as Technical Coordinator of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy programme. The IEA Bioenergy TCP, established in 1978, is the leading global network on research and implementation of
More Projects
Mobility Monitor 2025
We developed for NOVE an annually recurring Mobility Monitor that provides insights on vehicle fleet volumes development and indicates how the liquid and gaseous fuel demand, as well as the deployment of electricity, in The Netherlands transport sector is expected to grow or decline over time.
Understanding the EU and NL carbon emission obligation schemes for SAF production
A Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) producer asked us to assist them in identifying their obligations under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Dutch national CO2 taxation scheme.
For this analysis, we assessed the (future) participation requirements of the SAF producer under EU ETS based on their production set-up.
Overview of renewable fuels in Dutch transport
For: Scania Netherlands B.V. [October 2024] For its reporting on the Science Based targets, Scania needs to understand the deployment of renewable fuels in transport
Upcoming Workshops
RED III implementation in EU Member States
Are you interested in how RED III is implemented in other Member States? studio Gear Up is preparing dedicated, customised workshops about how implementation of RED is shaped.
Please click the button below if you are interested in such dedicated workshop (mention ‘REDIII MS implementation’ in subject line).
REThe impact od EU ETS and CBAM
In the coming decades the EU emission trading scheme (ETS) will require the reduction of emissions in the included sectors to zero. With other adjacent policy measures to meet EU climate ambitions, such as FuelEU Maritime, ReFuel Aviation and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), it is important to understand the interplay of these policies and their impact on the major economic sectors.
We will provide an analysis on these surrounding policies and developing a strategy to position your business in a fast-changing landscape.
Please click the button below if you are interested in such dedicated workshop (mention ‘EU-ETS CBAM’ in subject line).
Which challenges are you facing?
Understanding the upcoming policy developments toward a sustainable, climate neutral, fossil free, biobased and circular economy is essential to determine and strengthen your market position for the future. We can provide strategic support to understand these developments and to assess how regulations will impact.
Equally, governmental bodies need to understand market players perspectives to design effective policies. We have a good understanding of market initiatives and innovation plans for renewable energy and fuels, and circular products.
Which plausible futures might materialise and which are the crucial uncertainties that influence to a ‘make or break’ level your activities? How will competitors, regulators, clients act in a specific scenario and are your well-prepared to act.
The current transition from a fossil-based economy to a society that should operate within planetary boundaries will probably be turbulent. It will require careful exploration and strategic dialogue to understand how renewable energy, sustainable carbon and circular materials might be implemented under such plausible scenarios and how this impacts your organisation’s position and opportunities.
ETS2, ETD, CBAM, RED2, RED3,CSRD, ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, EUDR – all these abbreviations are examples of new EU directives and regulations to transition to a climate neutral European Union that will require compliance of your organisation.
In dedicated workshops we will provide basic understanding of such upcoming regulations, but more importantly, explore how these regulations might impact your product offerings and strategic positioning.
Renewable fuels and materials do have a lower well-to-wheel/Wake/Wing / well-to-product carbon footprint. We can provide clear insight in the exact greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings per functional unit compared to the fossil references by carrying out detailed and thorough carbon footprint assessments, following regulation approved methods. When needed we can build carbon footprint tools for in-house calculations.
The studio Gear Up Transport Scenarios (GUTS) model has been designed to project the energy consumption and GHG emissions developments in the comping decades for the European Transport sectors. With the model, on basis of existing and announced policy instruments, insights might be gained on how energy consumption and GHG emissions might evolve.
Furthermore, we have developed a TCO – total cost of ownership – model to compare the TCO performance of various light duty and heavy duty vehicles when using battery electric or internal combustion engine drivetrains in different EU countries. for combustion engine vehicles we can include the use or renewable fuels as replacement for fossil-based diesel or gasoline
The studio Gear Up Green Production Facilities provides an overview of global production facilities for renewable fuels and energy carriers.
The database aggregates data from multiple sources and can provide customer-specific overview and visuals of global or regional facilities, including their status of ooperation The database covers many types of renewable fuels (both bio- and e-fuels, among others various maritime and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), FAME, HVO, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, ammonia.
The database includes detailed information on each project, including administrative information (ownership, involved companies, location), stage of research, operation or development and (expected) project start up. Furthermore, we’ve included details on the conversion technologies used at each facility, feedstock types and volumes, product types and volumes, and targeted end-use markets.
Would you like to know more about the studio Gear Up green production facilities database and our other market intelligence services to assist the development of your projects, please contact us.
Do you have questions or want more information?
Please contact us in case you have any issue or question you would like to be helped with. Have a look at our Projects and Publication pages.
Blogs - in the picture
Challenges and risks of low ILUC-risk certification for the biofuel sector
With Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 the European Commission defined several options to certify low ILUC-risk feedstock for EU biofuels. Now that the criteria have been worked out and tested, it becomes clear that the approaches are highly complex, while the additional yields will likely be small. If low ILUC-risk certification becomes the norm for all biofuels, climate action in transport would get another setback. Read more.
How to overcome incoherency in EU policy policy on the energy-agriculture nexus?
Agriculture and the provision of renewable energy are inherently intertwined. However, the policy fields of agriculture and renewable energy in the EU, are not yet meeting. EU agricultural policy is predominantly focused on securing the production of food and feed products while largely neglecting its role in providing feedstock for the biobased economy. Cultivation and supply of energy crops is insufficiently incentivised by the CAP on the supply side. Despite acknowledging the important role of agriculture to provide biobased feedstock for chemicals, energy and materials, policy is not providing the right incentives to make this a reality. Read more.
More Publications
Analysis of SAF allowances (FEETS) – 2024-price update
February 2025, the European Commission adopted a new support mechanism on ‘SAF allowances’: used to bridge the price gap for the use of alternative fuels to accelerate the roll out of SAF.
We reviewed this mechanism in order to assess its expected impact on supporting the development of SAF market. We conclude that the policy design would require additional policy instruments to support the broader development of the SAF market.
Filter by
Archives
I believe renewable fuels can contribute much more to decarbonization than the policymakers want at the moment
Foremost, the use of fossil resources will have to be capped and reduced significantly in the coming decades.
About
studio Gear Up is an Amsterdam based independent consultancy firm, founded in 2015. We help our clients in understanding the changes in the broader contextual environment and how to adapt their organisation so that it can navigate these changing conditions.
In close collaboration and continuous exchange with our clients representative we execute analyses and develop scenarios for possible strategic repositioning so they can start building new propositions to generate impact in a biobased, circular and climate neutral economy.
Collaborative exploration of data and developments will generate new insights, understanding the current and upcoming regulation, executing analyses, building sets of different scenario’s to boost strategic considerations are examples of approaches taken.
