Understanding variability in petroleum jet fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions to inform aviation decarbonization

• Published in: Nature communications 2022-12, Vol.13 (1), p.7853-7853, Article 7853
• Main Authors: Jing, Liang, El-Houjeiri, Hassan M., Monfort, Jean-Christophe, Littlefield, James, Al-Qahtani, Amjaad, Dixit, Yash, Speth, Raymond L., Brandt, Adam R., Masnadi, Mohammad S., MacLean, Heather L., Peltier, William, Gordon, Deborah, Bergerson, Joule A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/4077/2790; 704/106/694/674; 704/844/4066/4076; Aerospace industry; Aviation; Aviation fuel; Carbon; Carbon - analysis; Carbon cycle; Carbon neutrality; Carbon offsets; Civil aviation; Decarbonization; Decision making; Emission measurements; Emissions; Emissions control; Fuels; Global marketing; Greenhouse Effect; Greenhouse Gases; Humanities and Social Sciences; Jet engine fuels; Life cycle assessment; Life cycles; multidisciplinary; Petroleum; Reduction; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35392-1

A pressing challenge facing the aviation industry is to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the face of increasing demand for aviation fuels. Climate goals such as carbon-neutral growth from 2020 onwards require continuous improvements in technology, operations, infrastructure, and most importantly, reductions in aviation fuel life cycle emissions. The Carbon Offsetting Scheme for International Aviation of the International Civil Aviation Organization provides a global market-based measure to group all possible emissions reduction measures into a joint program. Using a bottom-up, engineering-based modeling approach, this study provides the first estimates of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum jet fuel on regional and global scales. Here we show that not all petroleum jet fuels are the same as the country-level life cycle emissions of petroleum jet fuels range from 81.1 to 94.8 gCO 2 e MJ −1 , with a global volume-weighted average of 88.7 gCO 2 e MJ −1 . These findings provide a high-resolution baseline against which sustainable aviation fuel and other emissions reduction opportunities can be prioritized to achieve greater emissions reductions faster. This study presents a global well-to-wake assessment of jet fuel greenhouse gas emissions with a range of 81.1-94.8 gCO 2 e MJ −1 . Understanding this variability can improve decision-making amid the transition to decarbonizing aviation.