- accuracy
means the closeness of the agreement between the result of a measurement and the true value of the particular quantity or a reference value determined empirically using internationally accepted and traceable calibration materials and standard methods, taking into account both random and systematic factors;
- activity data
means data on the amount of fuels or materials consumed or produced by a process relevant for the calculation-based monitoring methodology, expressed in terajoules, mass in tonnes or (for gases) volume in normal cubic metres, as appropriate;
- aerodrome
means aerodrome as defined in point 1(2) of the Annex to Decision 2009/450/EC;
- aerodrome of arrival
means the aerodrome at which a flight constituting an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC ends;
- aerodrome of departure
means the aerodrome at which a flight constituting an aviation activity listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC begins;
- aerodrome pair
means a pair constituted by the aerodrome of departure and the aerodrome of arrival;
- aeroplane
means a power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft, which derives its lift in flight chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surfaces which remain fixed under given conditions of flight.
- agricultural, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry residues
means residues that are directly generated by agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry and that do not include residues from related industries or processing;
- air ambient temperature
means the temperature of the air, in Kelvin (K), surrounding an aircraft at any given moment of time during the flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- aircraft 4D position
means the four-dimensional position of an aircraft defined by its latitude, in decimal degree;
- aircraft engine efficiency
means the percentage of useful thrust generated by an aircraft engine relative to the energy input from fuel;
- aircraft mass
means the mass in kilogrammes of the aircraft along the trajectory, which equals to subtracting from the take-off mass the fuel burn during flight at any given moment of time.
- aircraft performance
means the category of information encompassing fuel flow and aircraft engine efficiency by all-time stamps;
- aircraft properties
means the category of information encompassing as a minimum and for each flight, the aircraft type, the engine(s) identifier(s) and the aircraft mass.
- alternative aviation fuels
means neat aviation fuels containing carbon other than stemming from the neat fossil fuels listed in Table 1 of Annex III to this Regulation;
- aromatic content of the fuel per flight
means the percentage of aromatic hydrocarbons present in the fuel used per flight;
- basic weather data
means the category of information encompassing for each flight, at least the pressure, the air ambient temperature and the specific humidity, used in the fuel burn and emission estimation modules.
- batch
means an amount of fuel or material representatively sampled and characterised, and transferred as one shipment or continuously over a specific period of time;
- biofuels
means liquid fuels for transport produced from biomass;
- biogas
means gaseous fuels produced from biomass;
- bioliquids
means liquid fuel for energy purposes other than for transport, including electricity and heating and cooling, produced from biomass;
- biomass
means the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from biological origin from agriculture, including vegetal and animal substances, from forestry and related industries, including fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of waste, including industrial and municipal waste of biological origin;
- biomass fraction
means the ratio of carbon stemming from biomass to the total carbon content of a fuel or material, expressed as a fraction, independent of whether the biomass complies with the criteria of Article 38(5) of this Regulation;
- biomass fuels
means gaseous and solid fuels produced from biomass;
- calculation factors
means net calorific value, emission factor, preliminary emission factor, oxidation factor, conversion factor, carbon content, fossil fraction, biomass fraction, zero-rated biomass fraction, RFNBO or RCF fraction, zero-rated RFNBO or RCF fraction, synthetic low-carbon fraction, zero-rated synthetic low-carbon fraction, zero-rated fraction, or unit conversion factor;
- calibration
means the set of operations, which establishes, under specified conditions, the relations between values indicated by a measuring instrument or measuring system, or values represented by a material measure or a reference material and the corresponding values of a quantity realised by a reference standard;
- combustion emissions
means greenhouse gas emissions occurring during the exothermic reaction of a fuel with oxygen;
- commercial standard fuel
means the internationally standardised commercial fuels that exhibit a 95 % confidence interval of not more than 1 % for their specified calorific value, including gas oil, light fuel oil, gasoline, lamp oil, kerosene, ethane, propane, butane, jet kerosene (jet A1 or jet A), jet gasoline (jet B) and aviation gasoline (AvGas);
- common reference Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model
refers to a computational system utilised in meteorology, comprising algorithms and mathematical formulations implemented in software, designed to simulate, and forecast atmospheric conditions over a defined spatial and temporal domain (spatial grid).
- conservative
means that a set of assumptions is defined in order to ensure that no under-estimation of annual emissions occurs;
- continuous emission measurement
means a set of operations having the objective of determining the value of a quantity by means of periodic measurements, applying either measurements in the stack or extractive procedures with a measuring instrument located close to the stack, whilst excluding measurement methodologies based on the collection of individual samples from the stack;
- control risk
means the susceptibility of a parameter in the annual emissions report to misstatements that could be material, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, and not prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis by the control system;
- conversion factor
means the ratio of carbon emitted as CO2 to the total carbon contained in the source stream before the emitting process takes place, expressed as a fraction, considering CO emitted to the atmosphere as the molar equivalent amount of CO2.
- distance
means the great-circle distance between the aerodrome of departure and the aerodrome of arrival, in addition to a fixed factor of 95 km;
- eastward and northward wind
means the horizontal speed of air moving towards the East or North, in meters per second, at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- eligible aviation fuel
means fuel types eligible for the support under Article 3c(6) of Directive 2003/87/EC;
- eligible fraction
means the ratio of eligible aviation fuel blended in the fossil fuel;
- emission factor
means the average emission rate of a greenhouse gas relative to the activity data of a source stream or a fuel stream assuming complete oxidation for combustion and complete conversion for all other chemical reactions;
- emission source
means a separately identifiable part of an installation or a process within an installation, from which relevant greenhouse gases are emitted or, for aviation activities, an individual aircraft;
- energy balance method
means a method to estimate the amount of energy used as fuel in a boiler, calculated as the sum of utilisable heat and all relevant losses of energy by radiation, transmission and via the flue gas;
- engine identifier
means the aircraft engine unique identifier number as contained in the ICAO engine emissions databank, or equivalent, allowing to unequivocally identify the engines attached to the aircraft, through internationally recognized standardised lists;
- enhanced hydrocarbon recovery
means the recovery of hydrocarbons in addition to those extracted by water injection or other means;
- enhanced weather data
means the category of information encompassing for each flight, the pressure, the air ambient temperature, the specific humidity, the relative humidity over ice, the eastward and northward wind, the vertical velocity, the specific cloud ice water content, the geopotential, the outgoing longwave, reflected solar and solar direct radiation, taken as input from a common reference NWP model, provided by the Commission through NEATS;
- flight
means flight as defined in point 1(1) of the Annex to Decision 2009/450/EC;
- flight fuel properties
means the category of information encompassing for each flight the hydrogen per carbon ratio, aromatic content, and the net calorific value of the fuel on board;
- flight information
means at the minimum the call sign as provided in Article 51 of this Regulation, the day and time of departure and arrival of the flight, expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the ICAO codes and/or the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) location identifiers for origin and destination airports allowing for unique identification of the given flight;
- flight phase information
means the split of data (e.g. aircraft 4D position, fuel flow) according to operational flight phases (take-off, climb, cruise, etc.);
- flown flight trajectory
means the trajectory followed by the aircraft from its point of origin (departure) to its destination (arrival), constituted by all the time stamps, recorded during the flight.
- fossil carbon
means inorganic and organic carbon that is not zero-rated carbon;
- fossil fraction
means the ratio of fossil carbon to the total carbon content of a fuel or material, expressed as a fraction;
- fuel flow
means the mass of fuel in kilograms that passes through the aircraft fuel system and into the aircraft’s engines per second during the flight.
- fuel stream
means a fuel as defined in Article 3, point (af), of Directive 2003/87/EC, released for consumption through specific physical means, such as pipelines, trucks, rail, ships or fuel stations, and giving rise to emissions of relevant greenhouse gases as a result of its consumption by categories of consumers in sectors covered by Annex III to Directive 2003/87/EC;
- fugitive emissions
means irregular or unintended emissions from sources that are not localised, or too diverse or too small to be monitored individually;
- geological storage of CO2
means geological storage of CO2 as defined in Article 3(1) of Directive 2009/31/EC;
- geopotential
means the gravitational field strength experienced by an aircraft at different altitudes, at any given moment of time during flight, in square meters per squared second (m2/s2) and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- hydrogen per carbon (H/C) ratio of fuel per flight
means the number of hydrogen atoms (H) per carbon atom (C) per molecule of the fuel used per flight;
- inherent CO2
means CO2 which is part of a source stream;
- inherent risk
means the susceptibility of a parameter in the annual emissions report to misstatements that could be material, individually or when aggregated with other misstatements, before taking into consideration the effect of any related control activities;
- International Standard Atmosphere (ISA)
means a standard against which to compare the actual atmosphere at any point and time, based on the specific values of pressure, density, and temperature at mean sea level, each of which decreases with increase in height;
- latest flight plan
means the latest flight plan available and acknowledged by relevant air navigation service for a given flight, before it takes place.
- leakage
means leakage as defined in Article 3(5) of Directive 2009/31/EC;
- legal metrological control
means the control of the measurement tasks intended for the field of application of a measuring instrument, for reasons of public interest, public health, public safety, public order, protection of the environment, the levying of taxes and duties, the protection of consumers and fair trading;
- load factor
means the weight of passengers, cargo and baggage, including mail and hand luggage, expressed as fraction of the maximum payload mass.
- location-based simplified approach
means Method D, as provided in Annex IIIa Section 4 to this Regulation, using primarily aircraft in-flight location-related data such as flight information, trajectory, but also basic weather data and aircraft properties;
- mass and balance documentation
means the documentation specified in international or national implementation of the standards and recommended practices (SARPs) laid down in Annex 6 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944 and specified in Section 3 of Subpart C of Annex IV to Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, or equivalent applicable international rules;
- maximum permissible error
means the error of measurement allowed as specified in Annex I and instrument-specific annexes to Directive 2014/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, or national rules on legal metrological control, as appropriate;
- measurement point
means the emission source for which continuous emission measurement systems (CEMS) are used for emission measurement, or the cross-section of a pipeline system for which the CO2 flow is determined using continuous measurement systems;
- measurement system
means a complete set of measuring instruments and other equipment, such as sampling and data-processing equipment, used to determine variables such as the activity data, the carbon content, the calorific value or the emission factor of the greenhouse gas emissions;
- mixed aviation fuel
means a fuel which contains at least two different neat fuels;
- mixed fuel
means a fuel which contains at least two of the following: or which contains both zero-rated carbon and other carbon.
- mixed material
means a material which contains both biomass and fossil carbon;
- municipal waste
means municipal waste as defined in Article 3, point (2b), of Directive 2008/98/EC;
- national fuel stream
means the aggregation, per fuel type, of fuels streams of all regulated entities in the territory of a Member State;
- neat fuel
means a fuel in its pure form containing only one of the following fractions:
- net calorific value
(NCV) means the specific amount of energy released as heat when a fuel or material undergoes complete combustion with oxygen under standard conditions, less the heat of vaporisation of any water formed;
- non-CO2 aviation effects
means non-CO2 aviation effects as defined in Article 3(v) of Directive 2003/87/EC;
- non-CO2 aviation effects tracking system (NEATS)
means an information technology (IT) tool, that is provided by the Commission to aircraft operators, to accredited verifiers and to competent authorities for the purpose of facilitating and, to the extent possible, automating monitoring, reporting and verification of non-CO2 aviation effects, in line with Article 14(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC;
- operation flight envelope
means the boundaries of altitude, aircraft speed, and load factor for each flight phase;
- outgoing longwave radiation
means the total radiation emitted to the space by earth atmosphere system, in W/m2, at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- oxidation factor
means the ratio of carbon oxidised to CO2 as a consequence of combustion to the total carbon contained in the fuel, expressed as a fraction, considering carbon monoxide (CO) emitted to the atmosphere as the molar equivalent amount of CO2;
- passengers
means the persons onboard the aircraft during a flight excluding its on duty crew members;
- payload
means the total mass of freight, mail, passengers and baggage carried onboard an aircraft during a flight;
- preliminary emission factor
means the assumed total emission factor of a fuel or material based on its total carbon content before multiplying it by the fossil fraction to produce the emission factor;
- pressure
means the force, in Pascals (Pa), exerted by the weight of the air in the atmosphere above a given point where the aircraft is situated at any given moment of time during flight taking into account three-dimensional radiative variables;
- process emissions
means greenhouse gas emissions other than combustion emissions occurring as a result of intentional and unintentional reactions between substances or their transformation, including the chemical or electrolytic reduction of metal ores, the thermal decomposition of substances and the formation of substances for use as product or feedstock;
- proxy data
means annual values which are empirically substantiated or derived from accepted sources and which an operator or regulated entity as defined in Article 3 of Directive 2003/87/EC uses to substitute the activity data, the released fuel amounts or the calculation factors for the purpose of ensuring complete reporting when it is not possible to generate all the required activity data, released fuel amounts or calculation factors in the applicable monitoring methodology;
- radiative forcing
means an imposed change of the planetary energy balance, measured in watts per square meter (W/m2);
- recycled carbon fuels
(RCF) means recycled carbon fuels as defined in Article 2, point (35) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;
- reflected solar radiation
means the portion of sunlight that is reflected back into space by the Earth’s surface, clouds, aerosols, and other atmospheric particles, in W/m2, at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- relative humidity over ice
means the concentration of water vapour, in percentage, present in the air compared to its concentration at the saturation point of ice;
- released fuel amount
means data on the amount of fuel as defined in Article 3, point (af), of Directive 2003/87/EC which is released for consumption and expressed as energy in terajoules, mass in tonnes or volume in normal cubic metres or the equivalent in litres, where appropriate, before application of a scope factor;
- renewable fuels of non-biological origin
(RFNBO) means renewable fuels of non-biological origin as defined in Article 2, point (36) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;
- reporting period
means a calendar year during which emissions have to be monitored and reported;
- residue
means a substance that is not the end product(s) that a production process directly seeks to produce;
- scope factor
means the factor between zero and one that is used to determine the share of a fuel stream that is used for combustion in sectors covered by Annex III to Directive 2003/87/EC;
- solar direct radiation
means the portion of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface directly from the Sun without being scattered or reflected by the atmosphere or clouds, in W/m2, at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- source stream
means any of the following:
- specific cloud ice water content
means the mass of cloud ice particles per kilogram of the total mass of moist air (kg/kg) surrounding an aircraft at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- specific humidity
means the ratio of water vapor per kilogram of total air mass (kg/kg) surrounding an aircraft at any given moment of time during flight and given for three-dimensional radiative variables;
- standard conditions
means temperature of 273,15 K and pressure conditions of 101325 Pa defining normal cubic metres (Nm3);
- storage complex
means storage complex as defined in Article 3(6) of Directive 2009/31/EC;
- storage site
means storage site as defined in Article 3(3) of Directive 2009/31/EC;
- synthetic low-carbon fraction
means the ratio of carbon stemming from synthetic low-carbon fuel to the total carbon content of a fuel, expressed as a fraction, independent of whether the synthetic low-carbon fuel complies with the criteria of Article 39a(4) of this Regulation;
- synthetic low-carbon fuels
means gaseous and liquid fuels, the energy content of which is derived from low-carbon hydrogen as defined in Article 2, point (13) of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, which meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction threshold of 70 % compared to the fossil fuel comparator for renewable fuels of non-biological origin set out in the methodology adopted according to Article 29a(3) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, as certified in accordance with Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2024/1788;
- take-off mass
means the aircraft mass at beginning of the take-off run, including everything and everyone carried at that moment, in kilograms.
- three-dimensional radiative variables
means number of variables such as radiative flux density, radiative heating rates, that describe how radiation varies across space, including the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, and how it changes over time;
- tier
means a set requirement used for determining activity data, calculation factors, annual emission and annual average hourly emission, released fuel amount and scope factor;
- time interval
means the time, in seconds, between two-time stamps during the flight, not exceeding 60 seconds;
- time stamp
means a snapshot of data (e.g. aircraft 4D position, fuel flow) that corresponds to any given moment of time, in seconds, during flight and that is to be considered together with time interval;
- tonne-kilometre
means a tonne of payload carried a distance of one kilometre;
- tonnes of CO2(e)
means metric tonnes of CO2 or CO2(e);
- trading period
means a period as referred to in Article 13 of Directive 2003/87/EC;
- true airspeed
means the speed of the aircraft relative to the air mass through which it is flying, in meters per second (m/s);
- uncertainty
means a parameter, associated with the result of the determination of a quantity, that characterises the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the particular quantity, including the effects of systematic as well as of random factors, expressed in per cent, and describes a confidence interval around the mean value comprising 95 % of inferred values taking into account any asymmetry of the distribution of values;
- unit conversion factor
means a factor converting the unit in which released fuel amounts are expressed, into amounts expressed as energy in terajoules, mass in tonnes or volume in normal cubic metres or the equivalent in litres, where appropriate, which comprises all relevant factors such as the density, the net calorific value or (for gases) the conversion from gross calorific value to net calorific value, as applicable;
- vented emissions
means emissions deliberately released from an installation by provision of a defined point of emission;
- vertical velocity
means the speed of air motion in the upward or downward direction (in Pa/s), where negative values of vertical velocity indicate upward motion.
- waste
means waste as defined in point (1) of Article 3 of Directive 2008/98/EC, excluding substances that have been intentionally modified or contaminated in order to meet this definition;
- water column
means water column as defined in Article 3(2) of Directive 2009/31/EC;
- weather-based approach
means Method C, as provided in Annex IIIa Section 4 to this Regulation, using primarily enhanced weather data, as well as flight information, trajectory, aircraft properties and fuel properties;
- zero-rated biomass fraction
means the ratio of carbon stemming from biomass which complies with the criteria of Article 38(5) of this Regulation to the total carbon content of a fuel or material, expressed as a fraction;
- zero-rated carbon
means carbon contained in a fuel or material that belongs to the zero-rated carbon fraction of that fuel or material;
- zero-rated carbon fraction
means:
- zero-rated fuels
means biofuels, bioliquids, biomass fuels, synthetic low-carbon fuels, RFNBO or RCF or fractions of mixed fuels or materials which comply with the criteria as specified in Articles 38(5) or 39a(3) or 39a(4) of this Regulation, as applicable;
- zero-rated RFNBO or RCF fraction
means the ratio of carbon stemming from an RFNBO or RCF that complies with the criteria of Article 39a(3) of this Regulation, to the total carbon content of a fuel, expressed as a fraction;
- zero-rated synthetic low-carbon fraction
means the ratio of carbon stemming from a synthetic low-carbon fuel that complies with the criteria of Article 39a(4) of this Regulation, to the total carbon content of a fuel;
- zero-rating
means the mechanism by which the emission factor of a fuel or material is reduced in order to acknowledge: