The aviation industry is working to help the world meet the 2050 net-zero emissions deadline set by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Carbon dioxide emissions from planes have grown exponentially in the past 20 years, according to a study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.
The study into the contribution of global aviation to anthropogenic climate forcing from 2000 to 2018 by ScienceDirect was co-authored by David Simon Lee, a professor of Atmospheric Science and the leader of the Aviation and Climate Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University.
According to the study, 32.6 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted by global aviation between 1940 and 2018. About half of those emissions were made in the last 20 of those years.
Between 1970 and 2012, the annual average growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions per year was 2.2 per cent. Between 2013 and 2018, it was five per cent. In 2018, global aviation emitted more than one-billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. This was the first year to surpass this.
But the aviation industry is trying to turn these figures around. Canada’s federal government has been working with the aviation and energy industry sectors for some time.
Transport Canada in a statement told Humber’s Et Cetera that the federal government and the aviation sector have worked together for more than a decade under Canada’s Aviation Climate Action Plan.
Transport Canada said this collaboration helps to reduce emission intensity. They are also working on steps to reduce emissions in the long-term, including through methods such as the development of sustainable aircraft fuel.
“Given the value of the aviation sector to Canada and the public, it is crucial to advance solutions that address the environmental impacts of air transportation, as Canada and the rest of the world move toward a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions future,” the statement said.
The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) devised a plan called Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
“The aviation community, through ICAO, coined the term Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to mean a renewable or waste-derived aviation fuel that meets ICAO’s sustainability criteria (e.g., environmental),” the statement said.
An SAF candidate has to meet requirements for safety made by ASTM International and only those approved by ASTM can be used as fuel.
The Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) also has a page on alternative jet fuels that have been approved or are awaiting approval from ASTM International. The field of alternative jet fuel is committed to developing cleaner alternatives to fossil fuel to power today’s aircraft safely.
Aviation engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has made a breakthrough with today’s engine technology.
According to a press release from Rolls-Royce, a partnership between easyJet and Rolls-Royce was made with the goal of decarbonization, the world’s first modern airplane engine to be successfully operated with the use of hydrogen.
This was revealed by Rolls-Royce on Nov. 28, 2022. The statement said it was a ground test conducted on an early concept demonstrator using green hydrogen made from wind and tidal power.
“It marks a major step towards proving that hydrogen could be a zero-carbon aviation fuel of the future and is a key proof point in the decarbonization strategies of both Rolls-Royce and easyJet,” the statement said.
Although just an early ground test, it’s proof that hydrogen may one day be a sustainable, “zero carbon” fuel for today’s aircraft engines.
American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is taking advantage of hydrogen as well.
“Hydrogen has an important role to play in enabling the aviation industry’s pathway to net zero carbon emissions,” an Oct. 27, 2022 media release from the manufacturer.
Pratt & Whitney, a world leader in aviation propulsion, is working to make technology that makes use of the potential opportunities hydrogen fuel has and has joined a consortium of more than 60 partners whose goal is to make a clean hydrogen hub in the United States’ northeast.
“If funded through the federal Clean Hydrogen Hubs program administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, a regional hydrogen hub could coordinate the production, processing, delivery, storage, and end-use of clean hydrogen,” the statement said.