The solutions to reduce the climate impact of aviation

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Technological and operational solutions	CO2	Contrails/ Induced cirrus	NOx	Deployment complexity	Timeframe for large-scale deployment
Carbon offsetting	Reduces CO2 effects but effectiveness and quality of compensation variable and difficult to verify				Existing
Avoiding areas where contrails are formed	Slight increase due to change of course	Diminution	Slight increase but possible decrease with lower altitude	Medium Introduction of metrics to identify trade-offs between CO2 and non-CO2 effects to ensure a beneficial effect on the climate	10-15 years
Formation flights	Slight decrease due to fuel savings	Little or no effect?	Slight decrease due to fuel savings	Medium More constraints on flight planning and air traffic management
De-aromatized fuel	Small decrease during flight but potential increase during production	Reduced radiative effects in the absence of aromatics?		Medium Introduction of a new fuel category
Biofuels	CO2 reduction compared to kerosene (life cycle)	Reduced radiative effects in the absence of aromatics?		Medium Availability of sustainable biomass for production, investment and scale-up of the industry, cost.	15-25 years
Electrofuel	Potentially neutral if made from atmospheric CO2 and decarbonised electricity	Reduced radiative effects in the absence of aromatics?		High Technological maturity, energy efficiency and the need for decarbonised electricity, cost.
Hydrogen	Potentially CO2 neutral if made from low-carbon energy sources	More frequent? But potentially lower optical thickness and shorter life?		Very high Complete redesign of aircraft and refuelling infrastructure. Associated investment. Production development. Cost.	>30 years

Source: Updated analysis of the non-CO2 climate impacts of aviation and potential policy measures pursuant to the EU Emissions, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), 2020