New research commissioned by Royal Schiphol Group, which operates Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, has concluded it must cut carbon emissions by at least 30% below 2019 levels before 2030 – compared to the national ambition of 9% – to meet climate targets aligning with the Paris Agreement. The Group commissioned two studies, one by the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), the other by sustainability research body CE Delft, to help establish what actions would be needed to contain the airport’s CO2 emissions within Paris parameters. Options proposed for Schiphol, one of Europe’s biggest air hubs, included further development of new technology, rapid upscaling of sustainable aviation fuel and “ambitious” demand management focusing on long-haul flights, premium class travel and private flights. The research also concluded that a net zero target for a specific year was insufficient to achieve decarbonisation goals and highlighted the need for ongoing incremental improvements.

“Given the strong international nature of aviation, it is essential that the polluter pays,” commented Royal Schiphol Group on the conclusions of the studies. “A strengthened national and international policy is needed.”

Based on the two reports, the group has recommended a package of remedial initiatives headlined by replacement of the Dutch air passenger tax with a distance-based tax targeting long-haul flights, which produce aviation’s highest CO2 emissions, and taxes on business class and private flights, with all takings to be reinvested in the Dutch aviation sector to assist its transition from fossil fuels.

Royal Schiphol also called for a broadening of the EU Emissions Trading System to include intercontinental flights, which are currently exempt, along with a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in Europe to prevent carbon leakage, and it endorsed a global kerosene tax and SAF blending obligations, to be overseen by ICAO.

The Schiphol recommendations follow a controversial decision last year in which the airport, mirroring the ambitions of its biggest shareholder, the Netherlands government, announced it would progressively cap the number of flights as a measure to reduce aircraft noise around the hub and beneath flight paths. KLM, the national and most affected airline, and IATA, on behalf of other operators, immediately launched court action to block the plan. They achieved temporary deferral of the ruling, a decision which was quickly overturned on appeal. But then the government suspended the plan, despite continued argument by the airport that flight restrictions would still be needed to contain noise and reduce emissions.

The report by the Netherlands Aerospace Centre estimates the nation’s aviation activity accounted for 1.16% of total global emissions from aviation, and that 96% of the Netherlands’ aviation CO2 was generated at Schiphol Airport.

“Current in-sector decarbonisation measures, excluding offsetting, are not enough to meet Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) derived carbon budgets compatible with 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,” says the report. “Significant demand management measures, to be implemented by 2030 at the latest, seem the only viable way out.”

It says 80% of Dutch flights are intra-EU and contribute about 20% of total aviation CO2 emissions, whereas 15% of the longest distance flights (over 5,000 km) are responsible for some 75% of emissions. “As such, demand management measures targeting long distance flights are more effective than measures reducing total demand,” says NLR.

The level of CO2 emissions in 2030 is the key determinant for cumulative emissions over the 2020-2050 period, stresses the report. Cumulative emissions 2020 to 2030 are governed by fleet renewal, operational improvements, SAF blending and the traffic network (number of flights). Cumulative emissions 2031 to 2050 are governed by RefuelEU Aviation, annual efficiency improvement and the 2030 emissions level. Additional and higher quality SAF, or further efficiency improvements only make a limited 2-8% impact on cumulative CO2 for 2031-2050.

The CE Delft report for Schiphol estimates aviation’s 2019 proportion of global CO2 emissions was 2.4% from tank-to-wing emissions – those created purely from aviation fuel combustion – and 3.9% from well-to-wing emissions, which also incorporate the CO2 expelled from fuel production and distribution.

“In the last decades aviation emissions grew by 3-4% per year,” it reports. “Growth in flights has always outperformed the efficiency improvements by new aircraft types and more efficient operations, leading to growth in emissions.

“A net zero target in a specific year is not sufficient. Global warming is driven by the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between today and the moment when global net zero is achieved. In-sector action between now and 2030 reduces cumulative CO2 emissions but overshoots the majority of airport carbon budgets.”

The report says replacing fossil fuels with SAF is technically relatively easy but expensive and predicts technological breakthroughs such as battery-electric or hydrogen propulsion would not lead to significant emission reductions in the next two decades. It adds new aircraft types currently in development will be in operation in 2050, powered by kerosene or SAF.

“Immediate scaling up of biofuel production and pre-commercial development of the synthetic fuel production are essential,” says CE Delft. However, it cautions that availability of biomass fuel feedstock and renewable energy would be limited in coming decades, and demand for these resources would be high among competing sectors and global regions.

“Technological breakthroughs will come too late and SAF production has limits,” warns CE Delft, adding: “The instruments that are currently in place are not sufficient. They need to be updated or replaced as soon as possible.”

The CE Delft report concurs with the NLR conclusion that demand management measures are necessary to align the aviation sector with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

However, CE Delft acknowledges that if the number of long distance flights from the Netherlands is reduced, a large number of passengers and cargo operators will switch to other airports, while others will fly less as a consequence of a decline in connectivity and higher ticket prices.

“If the ambition to reduce CO2 is much higher in the Netherlands than in neighbouring or competing countries worldwide, this may lead to competitive disadvantages in the short term,” it says. “Not taking this action will have tremendous consequences in the long term.

“The aviation industry worldwide has to answer the question as to how it prevents a substantial overshoot of the remaining carbon budget. Action is needed in all parts of the world. This includes the development of new technology, fast upscaling of sustainable fuels but also ambitious demand management.”

Photo © Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Roger Cremers)

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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Ryanair has commenced using a 40% blend of sustainable aviation fuel in all its operations from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport through a new agreement with renewable fuel producer Neste, advancing the carrier’s goal of 12.5% SAF use across all its flights by 2030. The European low-cost airline did not disclose details of the volume of fuel to be acquired or the term of the agreement. The deal builds upon a recent MoU between Ryanair and Shell through which the energy company will supply SAF at more than 200 European airports served by Ryanair between 2025 and 2030. Neste has started providing renewable diesel fuel to power ground service vehicles at Schiphol, which is targeting net zero emissions by 2030. The airport has proposed a night closure, a ban on private jets and the scrapping of plans for a new runway as part of becoming “quieter, cleaner and better”.

Ryanair operates a total of 63 flights per week from Schiphol, flying to both Dublin, the airline’s home base, and the Spanish resort of Malaga. Thomas Fowler, the airline’s Director of Sustainability, said the new deal with Neste, which took effect this month, boosted Ryanair’s use of SAF at Amsterdam from one third of its departures to all services. “Increasing the use of SAF is a fundamental pillar of our Pathway to Net Zero by 2050 decarbonisation strategy,” he said. “This increase at Amsterdam will reduce greenhouse gas emissions of our flights from there by 32%.”

However, the Amsterdam deal will make only an incremental difference to Ryanair’s total decarbonisation effort, given the carrier’s steep growth projections for the next five years. In its recent Q3 financial update, the airline said it operated more than 3,200 flights each day across a network of 2,450 routes, serving 236 airports with a fleet 523 aircraft, and flagged a total of 168 million passenger journeys for the full financial year. It also forecast a rise to 185 million passenger journeys in 2024, 205 million in 2025 and 225 million in 2026.   

In addition to the recent partnership with Shell, which the airline said could potentially provide access to 360,000 tonnes of SAF, or 120 million gallons, over a five-year period, Ryanair continues to introduce new, more fuel-efficient, Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, of which it already operates more than 80 from a total order of 210. As well, the airline recently signed a $175 million agreement with Aviation Partners Boeing to retrofit new split scimitar devices to the wingtips of its existing fleet of more than 400 Boeing 737-800NG jets that would help reduce aerodynamic drag in flight and cut fuel consumption by up to 1.5%. Ryanair estimates that the devices, the first of which have already been installed, will reduce annual fuel consumption by more than 65 million litres and carbon emissions by 165,000 tonnes.

“Decarbonising aviation is more important than ever, and we are proud to support Ryanair in achieving their ambitious Pathway to Net Zero by 2050,” said Alexander Kuper, VP EAME for Neste’s renewable aviation division. “Increasing the usage of SAF to all flights departing from Schiphol is a major milestone enabling Ryanair to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions of its operations at the airport.”

Neste has also signed SAF agreements this year with three other European carriers – Brussels Airlines, Wizz Air and Finnair. In January, Brussels Airlines received the first supply of Neste SAF pumped to Brussels Airport via NATO’s Central European Pipeline System (CEPS). Neste also reached agreement with Wizz Air, providing the airline “the opportunity to purchase” 36,000 tonnes of SAF per year for three years, starting in 2025, for use in its European and UK operations. Finnair has purchased 750 tonnes of SAF from Neste as part of its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. The airline said this was sufficient to power around 400 flights between Helsinki and Stockholm if using unblended 100% SAF.

In addition to its SAF deals with airlines, Neste has begun supplying HVO100 renewable diesel product to replace conventional diesel fuel in all ground handing vehicles and machinery at Schiphol, where 40% of vehicles are already electrically-powered.  “This is a significant step on the way towards a zero-emission ground operation in 2030,” said Denise Pronk, Head of Sustainability for the airport’s management company Royal Schiphol Group. “The vehicles for which there are currently no electric or hydrogen alternatives available can run on renewable diesel. Everyone on airside, where the loads are moved to or from aircraft, is making use of it.”

While Ryanair is planning to cut its emissions at Schiphol, the airport is at the centre of controversial attempts by its main shareholder, the Dutch government, to further reduce aircraft emissions and noise by introducing measures including a ban on flight departures between midnight and 6am, and arrivals between midnight and 5am.

The decision, announced by Royal Schiphol Group, was temporarily blocked by a Dutch court after the airline industry successfully argued the airport operator acted without required consultation.

Welcoming the court’s preliminary decision, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the Dutch government had unilaterally decided to reduce flight movements at Schiphol Airport from 500,000 to 440,000 per year.

“We believed no legal basis existed for this reduction,” said IATA. “It violates international treaties and European regulations. Governments can lower the number of flight movements in order to reduce noise, but only after having a careful process, consisting of, for example, assessing the current noise level, setting a noise goal and considering alternative measures. This did not occur.”

Joining IATA in its legal action were KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air Canada, United Airlines, JetBlue, Lufthansa, British Airways, Vueling, FedEx and advocacy group Airlines for America (A4A).

Justifying its future ban on private jets and small business aviation, the airport operator said this sector caused a “disproportionate amount of noise nuisance and CO2 emissions per passenger – around 20 times more CO2 compared to a commercial flight.” Private jet flights to holiday destinations make up 30-50% of all such flights from Schiphol, it added.

The night time and private jet measures would apply no later than 2025-2026, expects Schiphol. It also wants to keep 2.5% of available take-off and landing slots for cargo flights, which it believes are under threat due to international slot regulations. However, cargo flights will have to conform with new tighter rules for noisier aircraft and the new night closure measure.

The airport has also abandoned plans for an additional parallel runway and, together with central government, is setting up an environmental fund for the local area. Between now and 2030 it intends investing a total of €70 million ($76m) in innovative construction concepts, home insulation and area development “for an improved living environment”.

“Schiphol connects the Netherlands with the rest of the world. We want to keep doing that but we must do it better,” commented Ruud Sondag, CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, on the measures. “The only way forward is to become quieter and cleaner more rapidly. We have thought about growth but too little about its impact for too long. We need to be sustainable for our employees, the local environment and the world.

“I realise that our choices may have significant implications for the aviation industry, but they are necessary. This shows we mean business. It is the only way, based on concrete measures, to regain the trust of employees, passengers, neighbours, politics and society.”

Photo: Ryanair (Piotr Mitelski)

A recent high-level conference hosted by the Dutch government focused on the potential of synthetic aviation fuels, also called power-to-liquid (PtL) or e-fuels, to significantly lower the aviation sector’s carbon footprint (see article). The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, announced KLM had undertaken the first ever commercial flight to use synthetic kerosene in a jet fuel blend, which was produced by Shell. The conference also highlighted the launch by a Dutch/Swiss/German consortium of a project that aims to build a demonstration plant in Rotterdam which will produce fully circular sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) via direct air capture. The move comes after Royal Schiphol Group agreed to finance a study in 2019 into the feasibility of a demo plant able to produce SAF from air, water and renewable electricity. The study was led by German service provider EDL, with input from Climeworks, Sunfire, Ineratec, SkyNRG and Urban Crossovers. A new startup, Zenid, is now taking the next step with the support of these technology partners. Meanwhile in Germany and backed by the state of Hesse, Ineratec is planning a PtL pilot plant at an innovation hub for carbon-neutral alternative fuels next to Frankfurt Airport that is expected to produce up to 4.6 million litres of fuel a year starting in 2022, including an anticipated 1.25 million litres of synthetic jet fuel.

The Zenid demonstration plant will be powered by regionally sourced renewable energy and will combine several innovative technologies. A direct air capture plant will provide CO2 to a highly efficient co-electrolysis unit that turns the CO2 and added water into syngas, which is then transformed into liquid hydrocarbons by a modular Fischer-Tropsch reactor and then refined into sustainable aviation fuel (see below).

(Image: Zenid)

The consortium partners include Rotterdam The Hague Airport (part of the Royal Schiphol Group), Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport (RHIA), SAF global supplier SkyNRG and Swiss direct air capture company Climeworks. Based on the earlier feasibility study, the partners will carry out further investigations into the viability of the project. Zenid has also signed an MoU with Düsseldorf-headquartered global energy company Uniper to support the engineering and operation of the demonstration facility.

“Rotterdam The Hague Airport is very proud to be one of the kick-starters of this ground-breaking project, together with Schiphol Group and RHIA,” said Ron Louwerse, the airport’s Managing Director. “It fits exceptionally well within our strategy to facilitate and accelerate sustainability and innovation in aviation, to be at the cradle of sustainable aviation fuel made of CO2 from air.”

RHIA is a socio-economic cluster, providing an innovation ground for future aviation, with a focus on sustainable airplanes and airports, smart mobility, green energy, new business and next-generation education. Climeworks’ direct air capture technology runs exclusively on clean energy, with modular CO2 collectors that can be stacked to build machines of any size.

“The launch of Zenid shows the commitment of the industry towards fully circular fuels from air and their role to substantially reduce aviation’s CO2 emissions,” said co-CEO Christoph Gebald.

Plans for an innovation hub focusing on carbon-neutral alternative fuels and the construction of a pilot facility to produce synthetic fuels next to Frankfurt Airport were made in 2018. Since then, work has taken place on building the required legal framework and national network to support the emerging technology. The hub is being developed at the Industrial Park Höchst, which is operated by Infraserv Höchst and covers an area of 4.6 square kilometres west of the airport. It includes the Centre of Competence for Climate, Environment and Noise Protection in Aviation (CENA), which was established in January 2020 by the Hessian state government with a remit to secure the future of sustainable flying through innovations in aviation and promote Hessen as an aviation hub.

“We urgently need to reduce CO2 in transport, especially in aviation. To increase climate protection in transport, we need to encourage people to take short trips by train and make airplanes more fuel-efficient,” said Hessian Minister of Economics and Transport Tarek Al-Wazir at a recent presentation. “Moreover, we also need CO2-neutral fuels for intercontinental flights that start at Frankfurt am Main. That is why we are now investing in power-to-liquid technologies and infrastructure, especially for synthetic kerosene, here in the state of Hesse.

“CENA started its work at the beginning of 2020 and, furthermore, there are alternative fuel production companies in the region who want to realise their projects at the Industrial Park Höchst. We proactively support such developments not only with money from our regional budget but we are also actively bidding for money from the national budget.”

The German state has allocated extra funds from the state budget for alternative fuels and the production of green hydrogen as a starting point for the production of PtL fuels, and a roadmap has been put together by industry and state and regional governments.

“In order to enable the sustainable aviation fuels breakthrough, we actively support technological advances, construction of the interconnected infrastructure and the enabling of a functioning market framework for such fuels,” said Bernhard Dietrich, Head of CENA.

Two technology companies, Ineratec and Caphenia, have plans for PtL production facilities at Frankfurt Höchst. Ineratec, which was founded at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2014, develops, builds and operates modular units to produce synthetic fuels and waxes through the Fischer-Tropsch process. It has ambitions to build the world’s largest PtL production plant at Höchst. Caphenia has developed a power-and-biogas-to-liquid process for renewable fuels and basic chemicals using biomethane, CO2, water and renewable electricity. The company is planning a first pilot unit at Höchst.

“With the Ineratec power-to-liquid pioneer plant, CO2-neutral synthetic fuels will be widely available for the first time,” said Philipp Engelkamp, Managing Director of Ineratec. “Due to the modular concept, production capacities will be expanded worldwide.”

Synthetic fuels production process planned at Industrial Park Höchst:

Top image: Zenid (© Blueroom)

Representatives from the European aviation sector and environmental groups, together with a research organisation and a sustainable aviation fuel supplier, have come together to provide recommendations to EU policymakers on sustainability aspects and support for future aviation fuels. Convened by two climate-based philanthropic bodies, the guiding principles drawn up by the 12 participants in the Fuelling Flight Initiative are based on a shared vision that ramping up sustainable aviation fuels in Europe needs to be done in the right manner from the start. Endorsing the initiative include Air France, Deutsche Post DHL, easyJet, KLM, International Airlines Group, Schiphol Group, Transport & Environment, WWF and SkyNRG. The move comes as EU regulators consult on revisions to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) to bring it in line with the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the net-zero by 2050 goal.

The current directive does not ensure that fuels used in Europe meet the sustainability standards desired by civil society nor of leading airlines, believes Pete Harrison, EU Policy Director of the European Climate Foundation, which, along with ClimateWorks Foundation, convened the initiative.

“Europe must ensure that future policies only promote the most sustainable fuels for reducing the climate impact of aviation, and the EU needs to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past,” he said. “Those in the Fuelling Flight Initiative have now reached agreement on this important topic and we propose shared guidelines on how to minimise environmental impacts. Policymakers should take this into consideration when defining a policy framework that is fair, affordable and meets the highest sustainability standards without compromise.”

He was backed by KLM CEO Pieter Elbers, who said: “With our contribution to the Fuelling Flight Initiative, we support EU policymakers in defining the right framework that meets the highest sustainability standards. At the same time, we advocate affordable pricing of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in combination with requirements that are equal for all parties. With that, the road is paved for a faster uplift of SAF, helping us to decrease our impact on the planet and accelerate our ambitions towards sustainable aviation.”

Among the recommendations put forward in a consensus statement published by the initiative are to:

• prioritise e-fuels and fuels made from wastes and residues;
• exclude biofuels produced from dedicated cropland;
• execute case-by-case assessments of local environmental impacts; and to
• support multiple technology pathways.

The statement notes that despite two phases of EU policy support through RED and the Fuel Quality Directive, European investment in advanced biofuels production had so far been subdued and EU biofuel use had been dominated by fuels with high sustainability risks. Future policy support should only go to fuels with high carbon reductions compared to fossil fuels, which would provide a solid foundation for securing future investment in SAF development as well as contributing to broader UN Sustainable Development Goals, it says.

The initiative’s participants call for SAF policy to be informed by bottom-up assessment of feedstock availability in conjunction with a review of existing demands across different transport modes and cautions against high SAF mandates in the near term that could drive unsustainable behaviour, such as high-intensity extraction of residues with existing uses or the diversion of land to meet SAF demand.

“Any potential SAF deployment targets must balance the availability of sustainable feedstocks with the necessary ambition and complementary policy support to drive investment in more challenging advanced fuel pathways,” they recommend.

Over the next few years, waste oils may deliver small volumes of low-carbon SAF but, says the statement, the EU must invest in fuels made from more abundant resources such as agricultural residues, municipal bio-waste and electrofuels (e-fuels). It emphasises the importance of selecting which wastes and residues are sustainably available for SAF production.

“The precise guidelines for sustainable availability will by necessity vary by location and on a feedstock-by-feedstock basis,” it adds. “For example, the guidelines for agricultural residues will be different than those for forestry wastes and municipal solid waste (MSW).”

The participants agree the theoretical availability of fuels of non-biological origin greatly exceeds the potential of fuels made from wastes and residues. These include fuels generated from industrial waste gases, although they say it is important these fuels do not provide a continued business case for fossil fuel use and full lifecycle assessments must be undertaken to ensure the fuel generates real GHG reductions relative to the fossil baseline, including indirect effects.

E-fuels made from captured carbon in conjunction with renewable electricity or concentrated sunlight is expected to be another important source of non-bio SAF in the long term. Again, stresses the statement, policymakers must ensure both the renewable electricity used to produce them and the carbon captured for fuel production are not incentivised by power sector policies or otherwise double-counted towards those policies.

“Therefore, it is critical to ensure that these fuels are produced from additional renewable electricity and their CO2 use, if not captured from the atmosphere, does not provide a continued business case for fossil fuel use.”

The statement envisions a three-phased approach to SAF deployment based on technology readiness and feedstock availability. In the first phase through 2025, waste oils are the likeliest source of low-carbon fuel due to their low carbon intensity and ease of conversion. However, there is competition for such fuels and policymakers may choose not to incentivise their diversion from the road sector towards the aviation sector. Even with diversion, the penetration of waste oils in aviation will be limited but their use would constitute a meaningful first step, argues the statement.

Scaling up SAF deployment in the 2025-2035 timeframe will require utilising more technically challenging feedstocks through the commercialisation of emerging technologies. More abundant sources of sustainable feedstock are expected to come from lignocellulosic residues and wastes such as MSW and agricultural and forestry residues.

To meet long-term decarbonisation targets and deeper deployment rates, the participants say it will require the use of fuels with greater availability than bio-based wastes and residues, with e-fuels offering substantial long-term potential for supplying SAF, as there are fewer constraints to their production volumes. However, acknowledges the statement, the high cost of supplying additional renewable electricity makes this one of the most expensive options for reducing aviation emissions. Despite the initial high costs, policy support for e-fuels over the next decade could help bring down the capital costs for electrolysers and introduce the policy framework that would link transportation energy demand to new, additional renewable electricity from the power sector.

Concluding, the statement recommends the European Commission proposes higher sustainability standards than those currently laid out in the RED, including clear exclusions of unsustainable feedstocks and pathways, such as biofuels from dedicated croplands and palm oil production by-products (PFAD). The revised framework should also incentivise levels of SAF and/or feedstock use that could be met only from domestic EU supplies.

“To meet aviation’s climate targets, it is essential to start scaling SAF production capacity rapidly, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders including governments and NGOs,” commented Maarten van Dijk, Managing Director of sustainable aviation fuel supplier SkyNRG. “Long-term, stable policy frameworks are key to enable scale-up, and a clear exclusion of unsustainable feedstocks and pathways is, in our opinion, an important part of future policy.”

Added Andrew Murphy, Aviation Director at Transport & Environment: “The aviation fuels policy Europe launches this year will be crucial in determining whether the air travel sector is finally put on a path to sustainability. Europe needs to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past by ending support for crop-based biofuels and instead support new fuels, in particular e-fuels derived from additional renewable electricity. This statement is an important recognition by a wide range of actors of this need.”

The 10 participants in the initiative are Air France, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Deutsche Post DHL Group, easyJet, International Airlines Group, KLM, Natuur & Milieu, T&E, Réseau Action Climat, Schiphol Group, SkyNRG and WWF. Technical advice was provided by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).

The European Commission launched a public consultation in November on a revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, which closes on February 9.

Photo: KLM