1. WHY INTRODUCE ALTERNATIVE FUELS IN AVIATION?

Limiting or reducing aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a key objective of ICAO’s environmental protection activities. In this regard, in 2010, at the 37th Session of the ICAO Assembly, ICAO’s Member States adopted the global aspirational goal to stabilize the international civil aviation GHG emissions at their level of 2020.

The trends assessment performed by the ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) forecasts that, even with the anticipated gain in efficiency from technological and operational measures, aviation CO2 emissions will increase in the next decades due to a continuous growth in air traffic (figure below).

CAEP environmental trends assessment to 2040

Therefore additional measures must be taken into consideration in order to achieve a carbon neutral growth from 2020, including the use of sustainable alternative fuels that have a reduced carbon foot print compared to conventional jet fuel.

Emissions reductions accrued from the use of sustainable alternative fuels are not as a result of decreased fuel consumption, but through a reduction of the emissions generated by the use of the fuel itself.

2. WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE JET FUELS ?

Sustainable alternative fuels for aviation are fuels that have a potential to be sustainably produced and to generate lower carbon emissions than conventional kerosene on a life cycle basis.

Aviation’s focus is on “drop-in” fuels that do not require a change of aircraft and infrastructure, which would induce major logistical, safety and cost issues.

What is a drop-in fuel?

How can a drop-in fuel reduce GHG emissions?

How can sustainable alternative fuels be produced? From which feedstock?

Could alternative fuels produced from fossil feedstock be used for aviation?

How are we sure that alternative fuels are drop-in and safe?

What is a drop-in fuel?

A drop-in fuel is a substitute for conventional jet fuel, which is fully compatible, mixable and interchangeable with conventional jet fuel. Such an alternative fuel does not require any adaptation of the aircraft and or infrastructure, and does not imply any restriction on the domain of use of the aircraft. It can be used just as conventional jet fuel and does not require any new certification of the system.

Today, drop-in fuels are synthetic fuels that are designed in such a way that their components and properties are close to those of conventional jet fuels.

Why are drop-in fuels so important?

Being a drop-in fuel is currently seen by the aviation community as a major requirement for any new fuel in aviation. A "non drop-in" fuel would need to be handled separately from conventional jet fuel. This would result in safety issues associated to risks of mishandling, and would require a parallel infrastructure to be built up at all airports. The cost of such large parallel infrastructure networks is generally considered as prohibitive. From an operational point of view, as no aircraft is dedicated to a specific route, the new fuel and its distribution network would have to be deployed worldwide and it would be necessary to maintain different networks until the new fuel’s production covers 100% of the needs, knowing that average aircraft lifetimes exceed thirty years. In addition, guarantees should be provided to aircraft manufacturers that the fuel will be deployed before any decision is taken to develop a dedicated aircraft.

How can a drop-in fuel reduce GHG emissions?

Drop-in fuels are synthetic fuels that are designed in such a way that their components and properties are close to those of conventional jet fuels. Hence, they are still hydrocarbons and their combustion still emits CO2 in quantities similar to those emitted by fossil jet fuel.

To understand how such fuels can generate emissions reductions, two different situations should be considered depending on the type of raw materials that are used.

A first family of alternative fuels consists of biofuels made from various kinds of biomass (crops, wood, agricultural residues, etc.). In that case, the carbon contained in the fuel comes from plants and was up-taken from the atmosphere by plants’ growth through photosynthesis. This carbon is emitted back into the atmosphere during the combustion and will return to plants in a close loop. This is not additional carbon injected into the biosphere as it would be the case for fossil fuels. Thus, in the case of biofuels, the emitted carbon can be considered as neutral and combustion emissions can be accounted as zero emissions. This is the source of emissions reductions with biofuels.

A second family of alternative fuels consists of those fuels produced from different categories of waste, such as municipal solid waste or industrial waste gases. These wastes can contain or be made of fossil carbon. In this case, the mechanism for emissions savings is not the neutrality of carbon emissions, but the multiple uses of fossil carbon. Indeed, waste is discarded end-life products from valuable goods (e.g. municipal solid wastes) or by-products with no utilization value from the manufacturing of goods (e.g. industrial waste gas from steel industry). GHG emissions of waste are primarily associated with the production of these goods. Using waste does not add emissions to the system and is thus, carbon neutral. Using a different approach that would consider the value of the fuel produced from wastes, emissions could be shared between the manufacturing of the primary goods and the fuel. Then the fuel would not be zero emissions but, globally, for the same quantity of goods produced (main goods + fuel), an emissions reduction would be achieved.

How can alternative fuels be produced? From which feedstock?

Alternative jet fuels can be produced from a variety of feedstock including renewable biomass, waste or fossil feedstock, such as coal and natural gas. The focus here is on sustainable alternative fuels that have the potential to reduce GHG emissions. Thus, alternative fuels from fossil feedstock are not included as they are not likely to generate emissions reductions.

The figure bellow presents a simplified view of pathways for the production of sustainable alternative fuels. Only the routes that have already been approved or that are currently being submitted for approval to ASTM are represented.

Micro-algae Waste gases

Oleaginous plants Catalytic hydrothermolysisTri-glycerides

Recycled oil Hydroprocessing (HEFA)

Animal fats Yeast, malgae

HydroprocessingSugar crops

Sugars FermentationCereals

Enzymatic Hydrolysis "Alcohol-to-Jet"Municipal wastes

Catalytic conversionCellulosic plants

Fischer-TropshMacro-algae Lignocellulose

Pyrolysis / catalytic crackingResidues

Drop-in Jet Fuel(& diesel)

ComponentsAlcohol

Farnesene

Simplified view of pathways to sustainable fuels

There are mainly three families of bio-feedstock that can be used to produce alternative fuel jet fuels: the family of oils and fats, or triglicerides, the family of sugars, and the family of lignocellulosic feedstock.

Triglicerides currently come largely from oil crops, animals fats and used cooking oil. Production from micro-algae is an additional promising pathway that is currently in the research and development stage. Triglicerides contain oxygen that need to be removed to produce jet fuel components which are pure hydrocarbons. Different processes are proposed for this, in particular hydroprocessing, one of the two processes already approved.

Sugars come from sugar crops and cereals starch. They are mainly associated to fermentation routes that generally produce alcohols, which are further upgraded into hydrocarbons. This is the “alcohol-to-jet” route. Advanced fermentation has also been developed that directly produces hydrocarbons which can be upgraded in jet fuel components. It should also be noted that fermentation has been developed

from industrial waste gas as well. In that case, it is carbon monoxide that is used. Cultivation of algae is also a way to use waste gas to produce feedstock: CO2 is indeed needed to grow algae.

Lignocellulose is found in the wall of plants’ cells and in wood, and come from various energy crops, as well as from agriculture or forest residues and from macro-algae. Lignocellulose can be directly converted into hydrocarbons using thermochemical processes such as Fischer-Trospch, pyrolysis or catalytic cracking. The Fischer-Tropsch process can also be used to convert municipal solid wastes.

But lignocellulose can also be transformed into sugar and can thus be used for the aforementioned fermentation routes. In a similar way, sugars can be transformed into oil by yeast or micro-algae and thus further processed into jet fuel through deoxygenation.

Thus, there are a large number of processes under development that allow for processing of almost all kinds of feedstock into aviation fuel components, which offers flexibility for regional adaptation and optimization.

Additional routes are also being studied to produce alternative fuels directly from CO 2, including CO2

captured from the atmosphere, without using biomass. Conversion then uses renewable energy to break down CO2 into CO and O2, and water into H2 and O2, and then recombines CO and H2 in liquid hydrocarbon using the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. These processes (e.g. solar fuels) are currently in the research stage.

Most of the various pathways do not directly produce a drop-in jet fuel. They produce components that need to be blended with Jet A-1 to obtain the final drop-in fuel. It should also be noted that although they are not the processes currently deployed for road-transportation, these processes co-produce fuels that can be used for road transportation.

Could alternative fuels produced from fossil feedstock be used for aviation ?

Alternative jet fuels can be produced from fossil feedstock. Examples are the Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) and Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) made from coal and natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch pathway.

These fuels are approved for use in aviation as part of the general approval of Fischer-Tropsch fuels (Fischer-Tropsch process is feedstock agnostic and CTL or GTL are similar to biomass-to-liquid, BTL). In addition, commercial production already exists. GTL produced by Shell in Qatar is available at Doha airport and CTL is supplied to Johannesburg airport in South Africa by Sasol.

In this case, the carbon contained in the fuel is fossil carbon and the conversion process adds to the emissions. As a result, these fuels create larger CO2 emissions than conventional jet made from crude-oil. Carbon sequestration can be used to reduce global emissions but, even with the most aggressive existing sequestration technologies, there is currently little evidence that emissions reductions could be achieved as compared to current petroleum-based fuels. As these fuels are also not using renewable feedstock, they are not considered sustainable alternative fuels.

How are we sure that alternative fuels are drop-in and safe?

Jet fuels must meet specific requirements corresponding to their severe constraints of use in an aircraft. For example, the fuel should not freeze at temperatures down to -47 C to ensure that it is still liquid at high altitudes of flight. Its energy content should exceed a minimum value (42.8 MJ/kg) in order for the aircraft to achieve its operational range with a constrained mass and volume of fuel. There are also additional constraints associated with safety concerns, such as flammability, or with design features of aircraft engines (for example, jet fuel is used as a cooling fluid and a lubricant in engines).

The properties that any batch of fuel has to satisfy in order to be accepted on board an aircraft are defined by specifications, the main ones for conventional jet fuel being the DEF-STAN 91-91 1 and the ASTM2 D1655. These fuel specifications do not fix any precise composition for the fuel. They instead define the nature of the fuel and of the process for its manufacturing, as well as the limit values for a number of its properties. The experience with the fuel ensures that checking this limited set of properties is sufficient to guarantee suitability and safety.

To allow their use in aviation, specifications had to be created for alternative fuels. Prior to this, the fuels had to undergo an approval process that achieved a detailed assessment of a large number of their physical and chemical properties, as well as an in depth testing of the fuels behaviour in aircraft and engines systems, in order to demonstrate that there was no harm to use them. This approval process was developed for the approval by ASTM of Fischer-Tropsch fuels, the first alternative fuels for aviation. ASTM has now defined a standard, ASTM D4054, that frames this process.

D4054 is an iterative process that involves many experts in the ASTM’s aviation fuels subcommittee, in particular, the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). The OEM review the research report produced by the candidate fuel producer with testing results covering basic specification properties, additional properties referred to as “fit-for-purpose properties”, components testing and, if deemed necessary, full-scale engine testing. Approval of the fuel requires formal ballots and results in a fuel specification. For the specification of synthetic fuels, ASTM has created a specific standard, D7566, which includes a dedicated annex for each newly approved fuel. This annex defines the final list of properties that need to be checked for the acceptance of the fuel batches. As the approval process ensures that the fuel is drop-in, any fuel qualified under D7566 is automatically qualified under D1655 and can be considered as Jet A-1. Accordingly, it can be used without any recertification of aircraft.

1 DefStan is the standardization system of the UK Ministry of Defence.2 ASTM International is an organization devoted to the development and management of standards for a wide range of industrial products and processes.

3. WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS ?

The major potential benefit of introducing sustainable alternative fuels in aviation is to reduce the contribution of aviation to climate change through the reduction of aviation greenhouse gas emissions.

Alternative fuels may also have additional environmental benefits for local air quality.

How sustainable alternative fuels reduce aviation GHG emissions?

What are the other potential environmental benefits?

How sustainable alternative fuels reduce aviation GHG emissions?

The main benefit expected from the use of alternative fuels in aviation is the reduction of GHG emissions.

If, for sustainable alternative fuels, combustion emissions are neutral and can be accounted as zero emission (include link to previous question), this does not mean that there is no GHG emissions associated to the use of sustainable alternative fuels. The full life cycle (link to the box related to LCA) of the fuel needs to be considered as the production of the fuel itself is likely to produce GHG emissions, including CO2 and other types of gases such as NOx or methane.

The figure below provides some indicative values of the potential for emissions reductions of some biofuels compared to the case of conventional jet fuel. For conventional jet fuel, emissions associated to combustion appear in red. They are not accounted for in the case of biofuels. The indicative mean values for the different biofuels show that they have a real potential for emissions reductions, in particular for those using cellulosic feedstock.

Example of biofuels potential greenhouse gas savings

Fuel life cycle and GHG emissions

From the feedstock extraction or production to the final use in an engine, the fuel goes through multiple steps constituting its life cycle. At each of these steps, GHG emissions are likely to be produced. The total carbon foot print of the fuel is obtained by adding all these emissions together in a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach.

For fossil fuels, emissions are associated to crude oil extraction and refining, as well as final fuel transport and distribution. In the case of biofuels, a significant part of the emissions can be associated to the cultivation and the transportation of the feedstock.

Fuel life cycle emissions

Thus, to assess the emissions reductions from using alternative fuels, a comprehensive accounting must be done of all emissions across all steps of the fuel’s life cycle, from the field to the tank of the aircraft. There is an environmental benefit for climate change if these emissions are lower than the emissions on the full life cycle of fossil fuels, including the combustion.

(this would be included in a box that is open when clicking on life cycle)

The variation ranges (black lines on the graph) illustrate possible variations of the life cycle emissions depending on the actual conditions for the production of the fuel (e.g. agriculture practices, fertilizers use, co-products use). It clearly illustrates the importance of carefully controlling and optimizing these conditions to achieve the minimum emissions.

In addition, the results presented are for the case where no land use change (LUC) is induced by the cultivation of the feedstock. LUC has emerged as a critical parameter in the life cycle assessment of GHG emissions for the production of biofuels, as significant amounts of carbon may be stored in a given tract of land, both above and underground3. A change in land use will affect carbon storage not only through the removal of the vegetation, but also through the oxidation of the soil organic carbon induced by agricultural practices such as tillage. Yet, the change may have either a positive or negative impact: converting a forest into crop land will result in carbon release, while replacing annual crops by perennial crops may result in increased carbon storage in the land. Depending on local conditions, LUC emissions can dominate all other emissions associated with biofuels; a typical example is the clear cutting of a tropical forest to grow annual crops.

References:

Stratton & al. - Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Alternative Jet Fuels – PARTNER, Project 28 report, 2010.

Prieur & al. – Life Cycle Analysis Report – SWAFEA European Study, 2011.

3 Carbon that may be stored in a land includes above ground carbon contained in the vegetation and underground carbon contained in the vegetation roots, as well as well as soil organic carbon consisting of humus, and charcoal comprising decomposed plant and animals residues, substances synthesised from the decomposition and living micro-organism and small animals.

What are the other potential environmental benefits?

The alternative fuels approved to date (Fischer-Tropsch fuels and Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids – HEFA) are purely paraffinic fuels, meaning that they consist of alkane molecules only. A conventional jet fuel also contains aromatics molecules, which is the reason why current alternative fuels need to be blended with conventional fuel to obtain a drop-in fuel. This ensures that the final fuel contains the minimum required level of aromatics.

However this final blend tends to have a lower content in aromatics than the average of conventional fuels. This turns out to have beneficial impacts on engine emissions with regard to local air quality. Indeed, aromatics play a major role in the formation of particulate matters (PM) and thus some alternative fuels have the potential to reduce PM emissions from engines.

4. WHICH ALTERNATIVE FUELS CAN CURRENTLY BE USED ?

Any fuel used in aviation must previously be approved against international standards. Two alternative fuel pathways have already been approved for blending with conventional jet fuel and six additional pathways are currently under review.

A significant experience has been acquired with alternative fuels through experimental flights during the approval of the fuels and through numerous commercial flight since July 2011.

However, industrial production is in an early stage and the commercial availability of the fuels is currently limited.

Which fuels are approved today ?

Why is there a maximum blending ratio for currently approved alternative fuels?

What is the current experience with flying on alternative fuels ?

What is the current commercial availability of alternative fuels?

Which fuels are approved today ?

Currently, there are two approved pathways to produce drop-in fuels for aviation:

The Fischer Tropsch (FT) process that can convert coal, natural gas or biomass into liquid hydrocarbons through a first gasification step, followed by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; and

The Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) process, which converts vegetal oils and animal fats into hydrocarbons by deoxygenation and hydroprocessing.

Both processes produces Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK), consisting of linear or branched alkane, that can be blended at up to 50% in volume with petroleum-derived jet fuel to obtain a drop-in fuel. FT-SPK were approved as Annex A1 to ASTM D7566 in September 2009, and HEFA-SPK as Annex A2 to ASTM D7566 in July 2011. A number of companies across the world have developed or are developing such processes.

Six additional pathways are currently under review by ASTM:

Synthetic Iso-paraffin from Fermented Hydroprocessed Sugar ((SIP), formerly referred to as Direct-sugar-to-Hydrocarbon (DSHC)), converts sugars to a pure paraffin molecule using an advanced fermentation – the process is currently company specific and delivers a C15 molecule for which an approval is targeted for blending ratio up to 10% with conventional jet fuel;

The Alcohol to Jet SPK (ATJ-SPK), starts from an alcohol to produce a SPK (through dehydration of the alcohol to an olefinic gas, followed by oligomerization to obtain longer chain length liquid olefins, hydrogenation and fractionation); this pathway is currently developed by a number of companies;

Catalytic hydrothermolysis (CH) combined with hydroprocessing, has the potential to convert vegetable oils and animal fats directly into a drop-in jet fuel without blending with conventional fuel (the final product contains both paraffins and aromatics); this pathway is currently company specific;

Hydroprocessed Depolymerized Cellulosic Jet (HDCJ), covers two types of processes, pyrolysis and catalytic cracking, which convert lignocellulosic feedstock into a bio-crude that is upgraded into fungible hydrocarbons; a blending ratio of 30% with conventional jet fuel is targeted;

Hydro-Deoxygenated Synthesized Kerosene (HDO-SK), can convert starch, sugar and lignocellulose into a hydrocarbon fuel, consisting of cycloparaffins and paraffins, through aqueous phase reforming, condensation and hydrotreating; the process is currently company specific and a 50% blending ratio with conventional jet fuel is targeted for approval;

Synthetic Kerosene with Aromatics (FT-SKA), adds some alkylated benzenes from the processing of coal tar to SPK obtained from FT coal-to-liquid.

Reference: CAAFI General Meeting, January 2014, Certification-Qualification Breakout Session.

Why is there a maximum blending ratio for currently approved alternative fuels?

To produce “drop-in” jet fuels, fuel producers have developed synthetic fuels in such a way that their components and properties are close to those of conventional jet fuels.

However processes such as Fischer-Tropsch (FT) or hydroprocessing of oils and fats (HEFA) do not produce the complete range of molecules of conventional jet fuel. FT and HEFA fuels are Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK) and do not contain aromatics. These aromatics are nevertheless required to ensure the compatibility of the fuel with current aircraft and infrastructure. In particular, some variety of seals need a minimum amount of aromatics to operate properly and avoid leakage. Thus, blending SPK with conventional jet fuel is required to ensure a minimum content of aromatics in the fuel.

In the future, some additional approved pathways will contain aromatics and may have the potential to be drop-in without blending. In some cases, such as for pyrolysis fuel, the content in aromatics may be higher than the limit of the jet fuel specification and blending will be required to remain below this limit.

Include this box to illustrate the two previous questions.

Components of conventional jet fuel

From a technical point of view, a conventional jet fuel is a mix of hydrocarbons including mostly normal and iso-paraffins (CnH2n+2), cycloparaffins and aromatics.

Normal Paraffin Iso-paraffin Cyclo-paraffin Aromatics(saturated linear chain) (saturated branch chain) (saturated cyclic chain) (unsaturated cyclic chain)

What is the current experience with flying on alternative fuels ?

Before the approval of the first alternative jet fuels, demonstration flights had already been performed by a number of airlines. The first flight took place in February 2008 when a Boeing 747 from Virgin Atlantic flew from London to Amsterdam using a 20% blend of biofuel, made of coconut and babassu oil, to supply one of its engines. A total of nine demonstration flights using biofuels made from various vegetable oils was performed by July 2011 (three flights were also performed with Fischer-Tropsch Gas-to-Liquid, GTL, as a surrogate of Biomass-to-Liquid, BTL, as the Fischer-Tropsch process was still under development for biomass). They demonstrated the performance and the safety of the fuels. In addition, numerous military aircraft flights were performed by the U.S. Air Force that contributed to the validation of alternative jet fuels.

Following the approval of HEFA in July 2011, commercial flights developed, proving the safety and innocuousness of regular use of alternative fuels and demonstrating the interest and engagement of airlines. A number of airlines achieved a series of scheduled flights over a period of time, such as Thomson Airways (daily flight over six weeks in 2012), Alaska Airlines (75 scheduled flights) or Lufthansa that achieved 1,200 flights from Hamburg to Frankfurt, over a six months period, with a regular monitoring of the aircraft engines in order to evaluate the potential long term effects of using alternative fuels. As of June 2012, more than 1,500 flights had been performed on biojet fuels. More recently, KLM performed weekly intercontinental flights on biofuels from New York to Amsterdam over 26 weeks.

What is the current commercial availability of alternative fuels?

If numerous demonstration and commercial flights have shown the technical suitability of alternative jet fuels, their commercial production is still in infancy. By December 2013, no routine production of sustainable alternative jet fuels had started and, to date, commercial flights have operated with specially produced batches of fuels (existing hydroprocessing plants for vegetable oils and animal fats are mostly dedicated to diesel fuel).

The situation is expected to change in 2014, as commercial biofuel plants have been announced to begin commercial production of alternative jet fuels. This includes:

The Alt-Air hydroprocessing plant in Bakersfield, CA (USA) that has a production capability of 90 kt/y (diesel and jet fuel); and

The Amyris plant of Brota (Brazil), with a production capacity of sugar-based biofuel of 40 kt/y (Amyris announced the possible delivery of its sugar based biojet fuel to GOL Airlines from 2014, after the approval of the fuel).

5. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS ?

Economics

In the short term economics is the major hurdle to overcome for the deployment of alternative fuels in aviation.

Current assessments converge on an lack of competitiveness of alternative fuels compared to conventional jet fuel in the initial development phase before best practices, progress in production technology and economies of scale can bring about meaningful cost reductions.

Incentives, or compensation mechanisms for the environmental benefits of using these fuels, are required to bridge the price gap in order for airlines to buy the fuels and to create a market perspective that will attract investors and reduce the perceived risk of this emerging industry.

Renewable energy policies, which exist in most countries, support the deployment of biofuels for road transport through mandatory production quotas and fiscal incentives. A level playing field needs to be created for aviation in order for fuel producers to also consider this market, where technical requirements for fuels are also more stringent.

Beyond supporting measures, a key to the deployment of alternative fuels in aviation is to bring costs on par with fossil fuels. This requires improving efficiency and reducing the costs of both transformation processes and feedstock production, which will necessitate further support and investments in research and development, as well as the demonstration and scale-up of technologies.

Feedstock availability

Over the longer term, the availability of sustainable feedstock in the required quantities is a significant challenge for the commercial-scale deployment of alternative jet fuels as a means to achieving aviation environmental objectives. In addition, feedstock is a major contributor to the cost of alternative fuels. Development of feedstock production needs to be included in supporting policies, as well as in research and development efforts. Innovation in feedstock and technologies which require minimum resources in terms of land and water quality and nutrients, is key for the large scale deployment of alternative fuels. Feedstock are also at the core of the sustainability of alternative fuels.

Sustainability

If the use of alternative fuels has the potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions, their deployment at commercial scale is likely to have a broad scope of environmental, societal and economic consequences, in particular because of the large amount of biomass that could be needed. Depending on the solutions adopted, producing large volumes of biomass may have a high impact on land and water use, as well as biodiversity, generate soil degradation and pollution from fertilizers and chemicals use, and induce important changes in rural society and local communities.

The aviation sector recognizes the need for the sustainable development of alternative jet fuels, in accordance with the three pillars of sustainability - environment, society and economics.

This management requires developing policies for the deployment of alternative fuels that include sustainability targets and associated dedicated measures to ensure sustainability. Such measures should build on a combination of the approaches that have already been developed in the field of bioenergy. The voluntary certification of alternative fuel production chains is a way to ensure sustainable practices at value-chain level, while implementing a monitoring system at a national level, based on a sound set of indicators, allows for better control of the global and cumulative impacts, and to inform decision-making. Informed decision-making in the development and implementation of biofuels policies and strategies is key to minimizing risks and ensuring sustainability. An assessment of the sustainable bioenergy potential of the country is essential in this process.

A significant challenge today regarding sustainability is the assessment of the indirect impacts of a large scale deployment of alternative fuels. Indirect land use change (ILUC) and impacts on food security are particularly debated. ILUC is the land-use change induced in a different geographic area by the deployment of energy crops in one locale which leads to the displacement of previously existing crops. It is not directly observable and is recognized to potentially create GHG emissions. Food security is also indirectly affected by the effect on prices and agricultural commodity markets of an increased demand for biomass. The assessment and management of these impacts is currently not fully mature and require additional research and methodological work.

Reference: ICAO SUSTAF experts group report, “The Challenges for the Development and Deployment of Sustainable Alternative Fuels in Aviation”, May 2013.

6. WHAT ARE THE INITIATIVES WORLDWIDE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS ?

A remarkable tendency over the past years has been the increasing number of States’ and stakeholders’ initiatives and of cooperation agreements worldwide. In addition to direct agreements between airlines and fuel producers, 19 new initiatives and States’ R&D supports were identified in ICAO’s Global Framework for Aviation Alternative Fuels (GFAAF) as of the end of 2012, with 15 more being added in 2013. Stakeholders’ initiatives are being undertaken across all regions for the promotion and development of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation.

The spectrum of objectives covered by these initiatives includes:

Networking and coordination of stakeholders for promotion, information exchange and road-mapping for the development of alternative fuels;

International cooperation, such as the agreement signed between the United States and Spain and Germany, respectively (U.S.A. signed similar agreement with Brazil and Australia in 2011);

Assessment of regional potential and solutions for alternative jet fuel production; Research and development; Setting of production value-chains; and Other activities, such as coordination amongst stakeholders’ for the purchase of fuel (e.g.

agreement between DEC and A4A in the U.S.A.).

Currently, a majority of initiatives aim to coordinate stakeholders for the promotion and development of alternative fuels, and/or to assess the feasibility and the most suitable solutions for national deployment. To date, 12 initiatives directly targeting the development and establishment of a production chain have been identified.

Moreover, a significant number of initiatives from the private sector have been launched in addition to the initiatives from governments or those carried out through public-private partnerships. In particular, major aircraft manufacturers have been very active in developing regional partnerships.

Regarding States’ initiatives in 2013, the Indonesian Green Aviation Initiative was notable. Indonesia is indeed the first country that has set legally binding provisions for the use of biofuels in aviation, with the target to include 2% of biofuels in the aviation mix by 2016.

See Fact & Figures for more insight on worldwide initiatives or click on the map to see initiatives and activities per country.

7. WHAT IS ICAO DOING IN THE FIELD OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS?

The recognition of alternative fuels as a key part of the basket of measures under consideration by ICAO Member States to stabilize emissions from international aviation at their 2020 levels is reflected in ICAO policies and practices related to environmental protection.

ICAO is actively engaged in activities to promote and facilitate the emergence of sustainable alternative fuels in aviation by exchanging and disseminating of information, fostering dialogue among States and stakeholders, and carrying out dedicated work as requested by ICAO Member States to inform decision making.

What is the ICAO policy related to alternative fuels ?

What is the role of ICAO in the development and deployment of alternative fuels?

What are the past and current achievements of ICAO in the field of alternative fuels ?

What is the ICAO policy related to alternative fuels ?

The 38th Session of the ICAO Assembly, held from 24 September to 4 October 2013, adopted Resolution A38-18: Consolidated Statement of continuing ICAO policies and practices related to environmental protection – Climate change.

Regarding alternative fuels, the Resolution requests States to:

Set a coordinated approach in their national administrations in order to develop coordinated national policy actions to accelerate the appropriate development, deployment and use of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation, in accordance with their national circumstances;

Consider measures to support research and development as well as processing technology and feedstock production in order to decrease costs and support scale-up of sustainable production pathways up to commercial scale, taking into account the sustainable development of States;

Recognize existing approaches to assess the sustainability of all alternative fuels in general, including those for use in aviation which should:

Achieve net GHG emissions reductions on a life cycle basis;

Respect areas of high importance for biodiversity, conservation and benefits from ecosystems;

Contribute to local social and economic development, and avoid competition with food and water;

Adopt measures to ensure the sustainability of alternative fuels for aviation, building on existing approaches or combination of approaches, and monitor, at a national level, the sustainability of the production of alternative fuels for aviation;

Work together through ICAO and other relevant international bodies, to exchange information and best practices, including on the sustainability of alternative fuels for aviation.

What is the role of ICAO in the development and deployment of alternative fuels?

Resolution A38-18 includes a strong mandate for ICAO in the area of alternative fuels. It requests the Council to:

Encourage member States and invite industry, financial institutions and other international organizations to actively participate in exchange of information and best practices and in further work under ICAO on sustainable alternative fuels for aviation;

Continue to maintain the ICAO Global Framework for Aviation Alternative Fuels (GFAAF);

Collect information on progress of alternative fuels in aviation, including through States’ action plans, to give a global view of the future use of alternative jet fuels and to account for changes in life cycle GHG emissions in order to assess progress toward achieving global aspirational goals;

Work with financial institutions to facilitate access to financing infrastructure development projects dedicated to sustainable aviation alternative fuels and incentives to overcome initial market hurdles.

What are the past and current achievements of ICAO in the field of alternative fuels ?

February 2009: ICAO Aviation and Sustainable Alternative Workshop (Montreal)

The workshop concluded that, while not the sole means to reduce aviation’s GHG emissions, alternative fuels are a valuable part of a comprehensive long-term energy strategy to reduce emissions, and that the decision to develop their use in aviation should be an informed and responsible one based on total life cycle costs and carbon footprints. The need for cooperation and harmonization, in particular in the quantification of the life-cycle footprint, was identified.

November 2009: ICAO Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (Rio de Janeiro)

ICAO and its Member States endorsed the use of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation as an important means of reducing aviation emissions.

The Conference also approved ICAO as a facilitator for the development and deployment of alternative fuels through education, information sharing and the development of standardized definitions, methodologies and processes to support the development of sustainable alternative fuels.

The establishment of the Global Framework on Aviation Alternative Fuels (GFAAF) was agreed to consolidate and communicate information on existing activities in the area of alternative fuels for aviation.

2010: Creation of the Global Framework on Aviation Alternative Fuels (GFAAF)

To fulfill the remit from the Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF) organised in Rio de Janeiro in November 2009, the GFAAF was created as a public website, accessible through ICAO portal, where news and materials related to aviation alternative fuels are collected.

The GFAAF provides a continuously updated database about activities and developments in the field of alternatives for aviation, as well as useful documentation and links, to support information sharing and dissemination for the benefit of aviation fuels community.

http://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/GFAAF/Pages/default.aspx

October 2011: ICAO Workshop on Sustainable Alternative Fuels (Montreal)

ICAO organized this second workshop to promote the dialogue between States, financial institutions, fuel producers and operators. The workshop showed wide agreement between participants on expectations and challenges related to alternatives fuels deployment in aviation. Views were also expressed on the need for global policies and measures to facilitate deployment and also for increased harmonization, in particular, regarding sustainability.

June 2012: Rio+20 Flightpath Initiative

The ICAO “Flightpath to a Sustainable Future” initiative was launched on the occasion of the Rio+20 conference in June 2012, in cooperation with aviation industry partners. As part of the

initiative, the ICAO Secretary General travelled from Montreal, Canada to the Rio+20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on four connecting flights, all using alternative fuels. As the first ever flight operation connecting passenger flights using alternative fuels, it set a record for the greatest number of passengers carried on commercial biofuel flights within 24 hours, and it was also the longest international itinerary using biofuels (11,525 km).

July 2012: Sustainable Aviation Fuels Expert Group (SUSTAF)

In preparation of the 38th ICAO Assembly, in June 2012, ICAO created the Sustainable Alternative Fuels experts group (SUSTAF) with the mandate to analyze the challenges for the development and deployment of alternative fuels in aviation and to issue recommendations to support industry and States. This group consisted of 45 experts from various geographic areas and stakeholders, including States’ representatives, NGO, industry and other United Nation entities such as FAO and UNEP. The group focused its works on the possible options to overcome the near-term challenges for the deployment of alternative fuels, and in particular on the way to address sustainability.

Read about the outcomes of the group.

November 2013: Creation of CAEP Alternative Fuels Task Force (AFTF)

To respond to the remit from the 38th ICAO Assembly, the Alternative Fuels Task Force (AFTF) was created within the Committee for Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). The mandate is to assess the range of potential emissions reductions from the use of alternative fuels to 2050.

The task force gathers 63 experts from 15 States and 7 organizations. It will work on the development of a methodology to assess fuel life cycle emissions for the purpose of ICAO’s environmental trends assessment, and will apply this methodology to estimate the emissions associated to a projected scenario for the future production of alternative jet fuels.