The purpose of this guidance is to set out how The CarbonNeutral Protocol considers the global warming impact of aviation, and to clarify the accounting method to be applied to the emerging use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).
How The CarbonNeutral Protocol addresses climate impacts from aviation
The CarbonNeutral Protocol recognizes the strengthening scientific consensus that high altitude climate impacts from aviation are greater than the impact of recognized GHG emissions alone. It deploys an Aviation Impact Factor (AIF) as a multiplier applied to the GHG emissions from aviation in order to take account of the wider impacts of aviation on climate. This includes but is not limited to: short and long-term impacts from GHGs alone and others with global warming influence (for example, soot particles and aviation induced clouds); and direct and indirect impacts (for example, the interaction of NOx with methane gases and ozone at high altitudes).
Guidance on accounting for the global warming impact of emissions from aviation
Although previously required, following the latest science around the impacts of aviation, it has become clear that the application of a separate Aviation Impact Factor (AIF) is misaligned.
As a result, The CarbonNeutral Protocol no longer requires an adjustment to emissions from aviation with the application of an AIF. Instead, organizations should consider how conversion factors applied during the calculation of emissions from aviation account for Radiative Forcing.
Examples of these can be taken from the UK Government who publish factors for emissions from aviation including Radiative Forcing and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who published the most recent version of its Emission Factors Hub in March 2023. It bases its aviation-related factors on guidance from the 2022 Guidelines to DEFRA / DECC’s GHG Conversion Factors for Company Report.
The CarbonNeutral Protocol highly recommends that organizations use emissions factors that include impacts of Radiative Forcing.
Interpreting guidance on impacts on climate from aviation into The CarbonNeutral Protocol
Climate Impact Partners first reviewed the science underpinning the climatic impact of aviation in 2009, when it commissioned Professor John Murlis to provide guidance on the issue. The 2009 review, and its subsequent updates, highlighted that complex atmospheric chemistry associated with high altitude emissions of GHGs, other gases and effects, such as short- lived contrails and cloud formation, supported the view that the impact of aviation on climate may be greater than from recognized GHGs.
The CarbonNeutral Protocol recommends but does not require organizations to account for Radiative Forcing for two main reasons:
The EU’s Emission Trading Scheme for aviation considers only emissions of carbon dioxide. DEFRA, the UK Government ministry responsible for environmental affairs, has provided internationally recognized guidance in support of a multiplier factor of 1.9. This factor is not actively applied within UK regulatory programs, nor to any voluntary action on climate mitigation by the UK Government and its ministries. The aviation sector’s plans for a global carbon offset scheme to ensure carbon neutral growth from 2027 – the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) – also considers only carbon dioxide emissions.
The CarbonNeutral Protocol will continue to review the impact of aviation annually to align to best practice, including the outcomes of the ongoing consultations to The GHG Protocol Standard and related guidance.
Accounting for the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs)
The guidance above is based on the use of the conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuels (LHFs) available widely for aviation. However, in light of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming target, the aviation industry, in partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), has now adopted a set of goals to reduce aviation’s climate impact.
SAFs come in many forms, including hydrocarbons produced from renewable or waste feedstocks and a range of alternative fuels including hydrogen or electricity. In the short term, SAFs most commonly take the form of blends of conventional LHF and chemically equivalent fuels processed from waste oils, agricultural wastes and biomass feedstocks that can immediately replace LHF.
SAF displaces conventional LHF, replacing the fossil carbon with renewable carbon so that the direct impacts of flights are reduced proportionally to the amount of SAF in the blend. However, the secondary effects of aircraft flights, including impacts of non-CO2 engine emissions and of the flight itself (contrails and induced cirrus), are currently recognized as of a similar order to their direct impacts — emerging evidence suggests that future assessment may put them on an order of twice the direct impacts of total engine CO2 emissions. This dilutes the direct benefits of SAF by factor of approximately 2 today, but possibly more in future. There are, then, direct Scope 1 gains from the use of SAF, but at current blending levels, they are relatively modest.
While the development and deployment of SAFs is currently limited, its use in commercial flights is growing and expected to increase over time. Clients able to access SAF fueled flights can account for their impact under the guidance provided in Guidance 2.7, subject to availability of reliable use data and appropriately adjusted AIFs.
Clients pursuing increased deployment of SAFs to reduce emissions from their air travel should make themselves aware of the wider sustainability issues associated with the production of SAFs (see Murlis 2021 guidance – www.carbonneutral.com/ aviation-guidance-in-full) and seek assurances about the adequacy of environmental safeguards applied to the production of SAF feedstocks.
Where exact fuel consumption data is not available for GHG emission calculations, passenger kilometres traveled should be used as a basis for calculation instead. Depending on flight distances, different emissions factors are applicable and are often classified as domestic, short haul, medium haul or long haul. Due to the extreme variability in country sizes, the use of “domestic” classification can be counter-productive when applied to flights within a particular country, using emissions factors provided for use within a different country.
This applies particularly when using DEFRA emission factors for air passenger transport conversion figures in countries other than the United Kingdom.
Therefore, for the purposes of consistency, the following classifications should apply:
For clarity, these distance classifications should be applied when calculating emissions arising from passenger flights (passenger km) and/or air freight transportation (tonne km). These distance categories must be applied internationally, in the absence of robust, country-specific factors.