Climate assessment of single flights: Deduction of route specific equivalent CO2 emissions. Issue 1 (3rd January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dahlmann, K.; Grewe, V.; Matthes, S.; Yamashita, H.
• Is Part Of: International journal of sustainable transportation. Volume 17:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 40
• Publication Date: 2023-01-03
• Subjects: Aviation -- carbon footprint -- climate impact -- CO2 equivalents -- non-CO2 effects -- response model; Transportation -- Periodicals; Sustainable development -- Periodicals; 388
• DOI: 10.1080/15568318.2021.1979136
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1556-8318

Abstract

Abstract: Climate impact of anthropogenic activities is more and more of public concern. But while CO2 emissions are accounted in emissions trading and mitigation plans, emissions of non-CO2 components contributing to climate change receive much less attention. One of the anthropogenic emission sectors, where non-CO2 effects play an important part, is aviation. Hence, for a quantitative estimate of total aviation climate impact, assessments need to comprise both CO2 and non-CO2 effects (e.g., water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, and contrails), instead of calculating and providing only CO2 impacts. However, while a calculation of CO2 effects relies directly on fuel consumption, for non-CO2 effects detailed information on aircraft trajectory, engine emissions, and ambient atmospheric conditions are required. As often such comprehensive information is not available for all aircraft movements, a simplified calculation method is required to calculate non-CO2 impacts. In our study, we introduce a simple calculation method which allows quantifying climate assessment relying on mission parameters, involving distance and geographic flight region. We present a systematic analysis of simulated climate impact from more than 1000 city pairs with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft depending on the flight distance and flight region to derive simplified but still realistic representation of the non-CO2 climate effects. These new formulas much better represent the climate impact of non-CO2 effects compared to a constant CO2 multiplier. The mean square error decrease from 1.18 for a constant factor down to 0.24 for distance dependent factors and can be reduced even further to 0.19 for a distance and latitude dependent factor.