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Journal Article

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

Abstract

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 gCO2e MJ−1, with a global volume-weighted average of 88.7 gCO2e 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 gCO2e MJ−1. Understanding this variability can improve decision-making amid the transition to decarbonizing aviation.

Author(s)
Liang Jing
Hassan M. El-Houjeiri
Jean-Christophe Monfort
James Littlefield
Amjaad Al-Qahtani
Yash Dixit
Raymond L. Speth
Adam R. Brandt
Mohammad S. Masnadi
Heather L. MacLean
William Peltier
Deborah Gordon
Joule A. Bergerson
Journal Name
Nature Communications
Publication Date
December 21, 2022
DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-35392-1
Publisher
Nature