Environmental impacts in the civil aviation sector: Current state and guidance

Lea Rupcic; Eleonore Pierrat; Karen Saavedra-Rubio; Nils Thonemann; Chizoba Ogugua; Alexis Laurent

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2023.103717

Environmental impacts in the civil aviation sector: Current state and guidance

Lea Rupcic^*
, Eleonore Pierrat
, Karen Saavedra-Rubio
, Nils Thonemann
, Chizoba Ogugua
, Alexis Laurent

^*Corresponding author for this work

Delft University of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

The aviation sector contributes to environmental problems like climate change, resource depletion, and air pollution. We perform a systematic literature review of life cycle assessment studies to map the environmental impacts in the sector and provide methodological recommendations. The sector is divided into cross-cutting systems, namely aircraft, fuel and propulsion systems, and airports. Our review results confirm the sector's focus on climate change impacts. The mitigation strategies rely mostly on reducing CO₂ emissions during aircraft operations, like implementing sustainable aviation fuels and prospective technologies or decreasing aircraft weight with lightweight components. We use review analyses to identify and discuss knowledge gaps, such as the assessment of noise impacts or non-CO₂ flight emissions. Finally, aviation-specific recommendations are provided to LCA practitioners and aviation stakeholders with respect to data transparency and harmonization of results. Research needs, such as the development of characterization factors, are recommended to developers of life cycle impact assessment methods.

Original language	English
Article number	103717
Journal	Transportation Research. Part D: Transport & Environment
Volume	119
Number of pages	24
ISSN	1361-9209
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2023.103717
Publication status	Published - 2023

Bibliographical note

L.R. and E.P. acknowledge the financial support of the Fraunhofer-DTU project EDES (eco-design Stewardship), advancing ecodesign excellence and supporting the aeronautics European Clean Sky Programme. C.O. acknowledges the financial support of the Ecolonomic Design Evolution (EDEN) project with funding from Fraunhofer Gesellschaft under grant agreement No L20802. N.T., K.S.R., and A.L would like to acknowledge the financial support of the GENESIS project (https://www.genesis-cleansky.eu/), which has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101007968. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union. This study only reflects the authors’ views; the JU is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. The authors wish to thank Pernille Krogh Ohms (Technical University of Denmark) for providing insights into the building sector and helping shape the section dedicated to airport systems. Finally, the authors wish to thank Julie Elleby (Technical University of Denmark) for her diligent proofreading of this manuscript.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Life Cycle Assessment
Environmental impacts
Aviation
Electric aircraft
Airport
Sustainable aviation fuels

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title = "Environmental impacts in the civil aviation sector: Current state and guidance",

abstract = "The aviation sector contributes to environmental problems like climate change, resource depletion, and air pollution. We perform a systematic literature review of life cycle assessment studies to map the environmental impacts in the sector and provide methodological recommendations. The sector is divided into cross-cutting systems, namely aircraft, fuel and propulsion systems, and airports. Our review results confirm the sector's focus on climate change impacts. The mitigation strategies rely mostly on reducing CO2 emissions during aircraft operations, like implementing sustainable aviation fuels and prospective technologies or decreasing aircraft weight with lightweight components. We use review analyses to identify and discuss knowledge gaps, such as the assessment of noise impacts or non-CO2 flight emissions. Finally, aviation-specific recommendations are provided to LCA practitioners and aviation stakeholders with respect to data transparency and harmonization of results. Research needs, such as the development of characterization factors, are recommended to developers of life cycle impact assessment methods.",

keywords = "Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental impacts, Aviation, Electric aircraft, Airport, Sustainable aviation fuels",

author = "Lea Rupcic and Eleonore Pierrat and Karen Saavedra-Rubio and Nils Thonemann and Chizoba Ogugua and Alexis Laurent",

note = "L.R. and E.P. acknowledge the financial support of the Fraunhofer-DTU project EDES (eco-design Stewardship), advancing ecodesign excellence and supporting the aeronautics European Clean Sky Programme. C.O. acknowledges the financial support of the Ecolonomic Design Evolution (EDEN) project with funding from Fraunhofer Gesellschaft under grant agreement No L20802. N.T., K.S.R., and A.L would like to acknowledge the financial support of the GENESIS project (https://www.genesis-cleansky.eu/), which has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101007968. The JU receives support from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union. This study only reflects the authors{\textquoteright} views; the JU is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. The authors wish to thank Pernille Krogh Ohms (Technical University of Denmark) for providing insights into the building sector and helping shape the section dedicated to airport systems. Finally, the authors wish to thank Julie Elleby (Technical University of Denmark) for her diligent proofreading of this manuscript.",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1016/j.trd.2023.103717",

language = "English",

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journal = "Transportation Research. Part D: Transport \& Environment",

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AU - Pierrat, Eleonore

AU - Saavedra-Rubio, Karen

AU - Thonemann, Nils

AU - Ogugua, Chizoba

AU - Laurent, Alexis

N1 - L.R. and E.P. acknowledge the financial support of the Fraunhofer-DTU project EDES (eco-design Stewardship), advancing ecodesign excellence and supporting the aeronautics European Clean Sky Programme. C.O. acknowledges the financial support of the Ecolonomic Design Evolution (EDEN) project with funding from Fraunhofer Gesellschaft under grant agreement No L20802. N.T., K.S.R., and A.L would like to acknowledge the financial support of the GENESIS project (https://www.genesis-cleansky.eu/), which has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101007968. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union. This study only reflects the authors’ views; the JU is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. The authors wish to thank Pernille Krogh Ohms (Technical University of Denmark) for providing insights into the building sector and helping shape the section dedicated to airport systems. Finally, the authors wish to thank Julie Elleby (Technical University of Denmark) for her diligent proofreading of this manuscript.

PY - 2023

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N2 - The aviation sector contributes to environmental problems like climate change, resource depletion, and air pollution. We perform a systematic literature review of life cycle assessment studies to map the environmental impacts in the sector and provide methodological recommendations. The sector is divided into cross-cutting systems, namely aircraft, fuel and propulsion systems, and airports. Our review results confirm the sector's focus on climate change impacts. The mitigation strategies rely mostly on reducing CO2 emissions during aircraft operations, like implementing sustainable aviation fuels and prospective technologies or decreasing aircraft weight with lightweight components. We use review analyses to identify and discuss knowledge gaps, such as the assessment of noise impacts or non-CO2 flight emissions. Finally, aviation-specific recommendations are provided to LCA practitioners and aviation stakeholders with respect to data transparency and harmonization of results. Research needs, such as the development of characterization factors, are recommended to developers of life cycle impact assessment methods.

AB - The aviation sector contributes to environmental problems like climate change, resource depletion, and air pollution. We perform a systematic literature review of life cycle assessment studies to map the environmental impacts in the sector and provide methodological recommendations. The sector is divided into cross-cutting systems, namely aircraft, fuel and propulsion systems, and airports. Our review results confirm the sector's focus on climate change impacts. The mitigation strategies rely mostly on reducing CO2 emissions during aircraft operations, like implementing sustainable aviation fuels and prospective technologies or decreasing aircraft weight with lightweight components. We use review analyses to identify and discuss knowledge gaps, such as the assessment of noise impacts or non-CO2 flight emissions. Finally, aviation-specific recommendations are provided to LCA practitioners and aviation stakeholders with respect to data transparency and harmonization of results. Research needs, such as the development of characterization factors, are recommended to developers of life cycle impact assessment methods.

KW - Life Cycle Assessment

KW - Environmental impacts

KW - Aviation

KW - Electric aircraft

KW - Airport

KW - Sustainable aviation fuels

U2 - 10.1016/j.trd.2023.103717

DO - 10.1016/j.trd.2023.103717

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1361-9209

VL - 119

JO - Transportation Research. Part D: Transport & Environment

JF - Transportation Research. Part D: Transport & Environment

M1 - 103717

ER -

Environmental impacts in the civil aviation sector: Current state and guidance

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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