Economic and environmental performance perspectives of alternative aviation fuels

Abstract

Alternative jet fuels have received considerable attention by policy-makers as a potential means to mitigate aviation’s contribution to global climate change. For example, the US Federal Aviation Administration has set an aspirational goal of 1 billion gallons of alternative fuel consumption in the United States by 2018, and the International Civil Aviation Organization has defined alternative jet fuels as one of the cornerstones of its strategy for reducing aviation’s environmental impact. While current consumption of alternative jet fuel is less than 0.01% of global jet fuel consumption, the industry the industry is aiming for a large-scale replacement of petroleum-derived jet fuel with non-fossil alternatives by 2050.

A wide body of literature shows that alternative jet fuels from different feedstock to conversion pathways can significantly reduce lifecycle GHG emissions compared to conventional jet fuel from petroleum, if adverse impacts from land-use change can be avoided. However, significant questions remain about other environmental impacts, as well as on the economic viability and the necessary scale-up of the industry. This talk presents the current state of knowledge on environmental and economic viability of different alternative jet fuel pathways. It discusses the necessary production-ramp up over time in order to achieve significant emissions reductions from the use of alternative fuels in aviation. The talk shows how policy incentives impact on the economic viability of the different fuels.