Zero emission Airports (ZEA)

Connected Places Catapult’s Zero Emission Airports (ZEA) Project, funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), was a continuation of our previous work on Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure (ZEFI), and it set out to tackle three critical areas on the path to Jet Zero: 

• Solutions to decarbonise airport operations 

• Infrastructure requirements to support zero-emission flight 

• The standards priorities for Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure 

This work involved drawing together industry and academic insights for alignment on government targets; identifying opportunities to resolve research challenges preventing the decarbonisation of airports and infrastructure to support Zero Emission Flight, plus the barriers to achieving these; and the creation of a draft transition plan that airports and airfields can use to determine priority next steps. 

ZEFI Transition Plan

In the Jet Zero Strategy, the UK Government has committed to key milestones on the way to net zero emissions by 2050. 

These milestones include: 

• All UK domestic flights net zero by 2040 

• All airport operations in England zero-carbon emission by 2040 

• In-sector interim target of 19.3 MtCO2e by 2050. 

This transition plan, produced by Connected Places Catapult and Jacobs, aims to continue the initiative towards the acceleration of zero-carbon emission flight (ZEF) adoption. It outlines a draft methodology to support airports in planning for the introduction of hydrogen-powered flights and to inform their master planning activities. In addition to providing a step-by-step guide on key activities such as forecasting hydrogen demand, a case study for a UK airport is included, giving an indication of their high-level future requirements.  

As a draft transition plan, this guide is not intended to provide definitive answers and designs, but instead gives the high-level guidance needed to support initial master planning, allowing airports to safeguard for the future and deliver zero emission targets. 

Zero Emission Airports 2040 ZEFI Draft Transition Plan

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File size: 95.77Mb

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Innovation Gaps and Barriers to Zero Emission Airports

To reach the goals set out in the UK’s Jet Zero Strategy, airports will need to deliver enabling infrastructure for zero-emission flight and decarbonise operations. The scale and speed of development needed requires innovation across a range of solutions. However, there are several barriers slowing this transition. 

Connected Places Catapult produced this report to provide insights into the wider context of zero emission operations, thematic barriers to adoption, and the innovation needed to overcome these barriers. This was done by drawing together current technology developments, as well as industry and academic perspectives. Through this work, four key themes were identified that pose a challenge to Zero Emission Airports: 

1. Improving visibility of energy use and enabling better management of energy to support electrification. 

2. Informing fleet and infrastructure upgrades, operational changes, and staff behaviour for zero-emission ground support equipment (GSE). 

3. Improving the consistency of emissions reporting to ensure fit for purpose emissions data. 

4. Improving the understanding of airport requirements and building the safety case to support the adoption of hydrogen at airports to service zero emission flight (ZEF). 

Targeted actions are outlined in this report alongside a roadmap, to support the acceleration of innovation. These actions cover the key areas of early Technology Readiness Level (TRL) R&D, demonstrators, and deployment. 

Innovation Gaps and Barriers to Zero Emission Airports

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File size: 22.47Mb

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Both independent reports were funded by the Department for Transport in the 2023-2024 financial year under the Sunak Conservative Government. The analysis and findings of the report represent the views of the researchers and should not be considered to be UK Government policy.