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How to make climate-neutral aviation fly

Author

Listed:
  • Romain Sacchi

    (Paul Scherrer Institut)

  • Viola Becattini

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Paolo Gabrielli

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Brian Cox

    (INFRAS)

  • Alois Dirnaichner

    (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

  • Christian Bauer

    (Paul Scherrer Institut)

  • Marco Mazzotti

    (ETH Zurich)

Abstract

The European aviation sector must substantially reduce climate impacts to reach net-zero goals. This reduction, however, must not be limited to flight CO2 emissions since such a narrow focus leaves up to 80% of climate impacts unaccounted for. Based on rigorous life-cycle assessment and a time-dependent quantification of non-CO2 climate impacts, here we show that, from a technological standpoint, using electricity-based synthetic jet fuels and compensating climate impacts via direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) can enable climate-neutral aviation. However, with a continuous increase in air traffic, synthetic jet fuel produced with electricity from renewables would exert excessive pressure on economic and natural resources. Alternatively, compensating climate impacts of fossil jet fuel via DACCS would require massive CO2 storage volumes and prolong dependence on fossil fuels. Here, we demonstrate that a European climate-neutral aviation will fly if air traffic is reduced to limit the scale of the climate impacts to mitigate.

Suggested Citation

  • Romain Sacchi & Viola Becattini & Paolo Gabrielli & Brian Cox & Alois Dirnaichner & Christian Bauer & Marco Mazzotti, 2023. "How to make climate-neutral aviation fly," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-39749-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39749-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Breyer, Christian, 2024. "Role of smart charging of electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid in integrated renewables-based energy systems on country level," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    2. Cui, Qiang & Jia, Zike, 2023. "Low-efficient aircraft affecting future aviation carbon transfer among South American countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Minami Kito & Hirotaka Takayabu & Keisuke Nansai, 2023. "Carbon‐neutral pathways to 2050 for Japan's aviation industry in the absence of a mass supply of sustainable aviation fuels," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1579-1592, December.

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