Synthetic fuels may be a cheaper way to achieve climate-neutral aviation

Abstract

Abstract Mitigating the impact of aviation on climate change faces significant challenges due to growing demand and limited scalable mitigation options. As a result, direct air capture (DAC), a novel technology, may gain prominence due to its versatile applications as either an emissions offset (DACCS) or a synthetic fuel production technology (DACCU). Through a comprehensive analysis of cost-effectiveness, life-cycle emissions, energy consumption, and technology scale-up, we explore the conditions under which synthetic fuels from DACCU can become competitive with an emit-and-offset strategy. We find that DACCU is competitive with an emit-and-offset strategy once we explicitly include non-CO2 climate impacts and under favorable conditions such as low electricity and high fossil fuel prices and emissions pricing. By highlighting strategic interventions that favor these conditions and thus enhance the competitiveness of DACCU in the aviation sector, our results provide valuable insights into how policymakers could move the aviation sector away from fossil fuels.