In the future, aircraft emissions reductions are expected to be realised through in-sector improvements such as aircraft and engine technological innovations, air traffic management improvements, and the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). If required, additional out-of-sector emission reductions need to be addressed through market-based measures such as CORSIA or EU ETS. FlyingGreen’s NetZero pillar aims to provide reference information for planning aircraft emissions, cost implications, and decarbonisation strategies helping stakeholders identify potential discrepancies and make informed decisions to bridge the gap with their emissions targets.
Past emissions are being presented using two different methodologies (that can be selected as filter options on the platform):
- UNFCCC methodology with a State focus where the full trajectory of flight is considered; or
- Area focus where the fuel burn and emissions are calculated only within the selected area and depending on the traffic selected (traffic type filer differentiating between departures, arrival and intra flights).
Fuel burn and emission values are calculated with EUROCONTROL tool, Advance Emission Model, and based on the best available actual trajectory data available to EUROCONTROL. The platform allows the user to select the methodology, the area of interest and the traffic of interest and returns the fuel burn and emission values based on the user's selection.
The Release 1 of the NetZero pillar presents basic information as yearly total exhaust and Net emissions. In addition, what-if functionality provides a way to investigate the impact of the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) on Net emissions.
Services
Direct and Estimated Emissions:
- Display of historical and estimated emission values (exhaust and net) in different aggregation levels depending on the specific stakeholder’s perspective;
- • Emissions calculated out of different pre-defined scenarios aligned with the EUROCONTROL Aviation Outlook 2050, and specified to the different in-sector categories (e.g. ATM improvements, SAF, aircraft & engine innovation);
Environmental Costs to Operations:
- Assessment of the cost-impact of market-based measures to aviation, deduced from in-sector emission reduction results.
- Assessment of the investment costs required for the in-sector improvements to reduce aircraft's emission.
- The output of this service may serve as input to the DecarbFin pillar to identify the subsequent potential funding opportunities.
What-If Analysis:
- Input of stakeholder specific/local parameters to simulate their impact on stakeholder’s own operations regarding fuel burn, (net) emissions, and associated costs.
- This service will provide stakeholders with the option to perform a sensitivity analysis or to assess different local strategies for decision making support.
Fuel Volume Requirements:
- Support to assess stakeholder’s individual fuel requirements, by determining the volumes required based on EUROCONTROL traffic estimations, which are further refined with the outcomes from the Green Fuels calculator of the Fuelling Decarb pillar;
- Specific focus on the requirements for the fuel-blending and fuel-pathways of SAF.
Aviation Emission Reduction news or good practices:
- Selection of publicly available information to display (planned) emission reduction activities from various viewpoints, e.g., at ECAC level overall or split by stakeholder’s perspective, and by in-sector improvement areas (e.g. SAF, or ATM).
- The purpose is to facilitate stakeholder access to relevant examples and to address initiatives for aligning action plans, noting that decarbonisation efforts often require a multi-stakeholder collaborative approach.