Sustainable aviation fuels: status and prospects

Gunnar Quante, Stefan Bube and Martin Kaltschmitt

Chapter 27 in Research Handbook on Air Transport Management, 2026, pp 350-370 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Commercial air transport contributes approximately 4% to global anthropogenic climate forcing. The use of so-called sustainable aviation fuels – that is, fuels from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuel-based sources – can help to mitigate a large fraction of aviation's climate forcing. Such “green” fuels reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using feedstock based on CO2 bound from the atmosphere. Additionally, their use can lower non-CO2 related climate impacts. Various feedstock and several provision pathways for such “green” fuels are available, but their market shares are still clearly below 1% on a global scale. This chapter outlines the context of climate impact mitigation in aviation and derives systemic requirements for renewably sourced kerosene. On the consumption side, the air transport system requires a fuel characterized ideally by identical fuel properties to fossil fuel-based kerosene. On the provision side, a wide variety of feedstock and provision pathways for renewably sourced kerosene is available. To bridge the gap between provision and consumption, selected pathways for the provision of renewably sourced kerosene are described. Comparing these provision pathways indicates a trade-off between low conversion efforts and a high theoretical availability.

Keywords: Sustainable aviation fuel; Renewable energy; Climate change mitigation; Aviation climate impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035336272
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