Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050

Summary: The aviation industry plays an increasing role in climate change due to emissions at cruise altitudes. This study combines projections from the Aviation Integrated Model (AIM) and simulations from the Aviation-FAIR model to assess greenhouse gas concentrations, radiative forcing, and temper...

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Main Authors: Qiang Cui, Xu-jie Sun, Xing-yu Tang, Ying Zhou, Yu-xin Zhang, Ye Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:iScience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225015846
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author Qiang Cui
Xu-jie Sun
Xing-yu Tang
Ying Zhou
Yu-xin Zhang
Ye Li
author_facet Qiang Cui
Xu-jie Sun
Xing-yu Tang
Ying Zhou
Yu-xin Zhang
Ye Li
author_sort Qiang Cui
collection DOAJ
description Summary: The aviation industry plays an increasing role in climate change due to emissions at cruise altitudes. This study combines projections from the Aviation Integrated Model (AIM) and simulations from the Aviation-FAIR model to assess greenhouse gas concentrations, radiative forcing, and temperature effects across emission altitudes from 500 to 40,500 ft during 2025–2050. The results reveal that climate impact intensifies with altitude and peaks at 34,500 ft. In addition, a cost-benefit analysis evaluates the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and hydrogen energy in civil aviation. By 2050, offsetting the costs of these fuels will require $354.44 billion for SAF and $1,888.44 billion for hydrogen. This study assesses the altitude-dependent climate effects of aircraft emissions and the economic feasibility of alternative aviation energy technologies, highlighting both their mitigation potential and cost-related limitations.
format Article
id doaj-art-c6a9a99290314bcc8d2f3656f6624e3b
institution Kabale University
issn 2589-0042
language English
publishDate 2025-09-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series iScience
spelling doaj-art-c6a9a99290314bcc8d2f3656f6624e3b2025-08-22T04:57:11ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-09-0128911332310.1016/j.isci.2025.113323Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050Qiang Cui0Xu-jie Sun1Xing-yu Tang2Ying Zhou3Yu-xin Zhang4Ye Li5School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China; Corresponding authorSchool of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, ChinaSchool of Business Administration, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, ChinaSummary: The aviation industry plays an increasing role in climate change due to emissions at cruise altitudes. This study combines projections from the Aviation Integrated Model (AIM) and simulations from the Aviation-FAIR model to assess greenhouse gas concentrations, radiative forcing, and temperature effects across emission altitudes from 500 to 40,500 ft during 2025–2050. The results reveal that climate impact intensifies with altitude and peaks at 34,500 ft. In addition, a cost-benefit analysis evaluates the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and hydrogen energy in civil aviation. By 2050, offsetting the costs of these fuels will require $354.44 billion for SAF and $1,888.44 billion for hydrogen. This study assesses the altitude-dependent climate effects of aircraft emissions and the economic feasibility of alternative aviation energy technologies, highlighting both their mitigation potential and cost-related limitations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225015846environmental scienceapplied scienceseconomics
spellingShingle Qiang Cui
Xu-jie Sun
Xing-yu Tang
Ying Zhou
Yu-xin Zhang
Ye Li
Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
iScience
environmental science
applied sciences
economics
title Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
title_full Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
title_fullStr Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
title_full_unstemmed Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
title_short Altitude-dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
title_sort altitude dependent climate impacts and economic feasibility of alternative fuels in aviation from 2025 to 2050
topic environmental science
applied sciences
economics
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225015846
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AT xujiesun altitudedependentclimateimpactsandeconomicfeasibilityofalternativefuelsinaviationfrom2025to2050
AT xingyutang altitudedependentclimateimpactsandeconomicfeasibilityofalternativefuelsinaviationfrom2025to2050
AT yingzhou altitudedependentclimateimpactsandeconomicfeasibilityofalternativefuelsinaviationfrom2025to2050
AT yuxinzhang altitudedependentclimateimpactsandeconomicfeasibilityofalternativefuelsinaviationfrom2025to2050
AT yeli altitudedependentclimateimpactsandeconomicfeasibilityofalternativefuelsinaviationfrom2025to2050