Cargo Chat: RMI’s Chen on progress in aviation sustainability

With sustainability a top concern in aviation, Boulder, Colo.-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute is driving research for a clean, zero-carbon future. The nonpartisan organization works with policymakers, businesses and communities to scale energy system interventions with the aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, according to Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) mission statement. In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded RMI a $4.4 million grant to develop its sustainability strategies, according to the company. Andrew Chen , the principal for decarbonization in aviation at the nonprofit, sat down with Air Cargo Next to discuss the future of aviation in terms of reaching IATA ’s 2050 net-zero goals for sustainability, with an emphasis on contrail avoidance, a concept recently studied by American Airlines in partnership with Google Research and Breakthrough Energy . [caption id="attachment_57137884" align="alignleft" width="264"] Andrew Chen, principal for aviation decarbonization, RMI[/caption] What follows is an edited version of that conversation. Air Cargo Next : What is your background and what is your primary role at RMI? Andrew Chen: I’m the principal in the climate alignment industries team at RMI, responsible for aviation. And that means my portfolio covers all the work that we do on sector engagement with aviation in decarbonization. Most of that work historically has been focused on SAF [sustainable aviation fuel], and how you make a market and harness demand to create an actual functionable market for SAF and SAF certificates. My team more recently also works on the supply side of this equation. We’re focused in Houston and the southern California regions right now. We’re working on about 100 overall projects where we’re interested in how we can accelerate these clean industrial hubs: hydrogen, carbon capture, SAF, low-carbon fuels, whatever it may be. So that’s part of my team’s role. But then we also cover non-carbon dioxide and contrails, which is an exciting area we launched last year. And for me, my background is in aviation. I was formerly the head of climate at Heathrow Airport and have been part of industry conversations for many years — over a decade now — on the non-carbon dioxide impacts from aviation, the uncertainties that lie within them and the progress made toward addressing those uncertainties. Air Cargo Next : Please explain what contrails are and how they can damage the environment. AC: [Contrails] are linear clouds made from the exhausts of aircraft engines at a high altitude. They are of such attention and importance because, when you create that contrail at altitude, it has climate warming and cooling effects. But overall, the general consensus and immediate estimate is that contrails on their own may [contribute 60% or more of] what we measure for the carbon dioxide that comes from aviation today. So, we have an issue which I describe as the elephant in the room of aviation and climate. We know it’s there. We know it’s big. But we don’t know how big it is. But there is enough evidence and urgency to know we must do something about this elephant in the room while we figure out exactly how big it is. Air Cargo Next : How can contrails be avoided? AC: There are opportunities to change altitudes vertically to either fly below a region ... we have seen contrails or increase and fly above them. And that’s primarily what a lot of studies have been looking at there. In theory, we could be adding this to create some left or right alterations to a flight path as well. But ultimately, we’re trying to fit in and find a solution that is the easiest and lowest hanging fruit, where we know we are providing a climate impact. We are not changing fuel burns significantly. Operationally, it would not be too severe. And they call this out in the Google Research/American Airlines article in coverage as well, which is spot-on. It’s remarkably similar to turbulence in that we can have 10-day forecasts, next-day forecasts now. And potentially something we have been working on with a few airline partners [is] pilot observations and pilot reporting in real time to help enhance the entire system and make those models that forecast controls even better. [caption id="attachment_57137885" align="alignright" width="348"] (Photo/ Can Stock)[/caption] Air Cargo Next : How attainable are IATA’s 2050 net-zero goals? AC: Well, on the 2050 goal, I’d say two things. The work that we’ve done shows the target is within grasp. We also have the technologies, or at least the understanding, of what needs to scale by 2050, which is possible. It’s not free, and it’s not cheap, but it is possible. But the more important part is, it’s nonnegotiable. There’s no opportunity or wiggle room to think about being later than that. The longer that aviation goes as a hard-to-evade sector … we’ll be sticking out like a sore thumb by 2050. Join Air Cargo Next for its second annual Air Cargo Tech Summit on Sept. 18-19 in Brussels, sponsored by Unisys and Brussels Airport and featuring a fireside chat with Brian Hodges, managing director, American Airlines Cargo. For more details and to register, click here .

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