Biojet fuels and emissions mitigation in aviation: An integrated assessment modeling analysis

Although the aviation sector is a relatively small contributor to total greenhouse gas emissions, it is a fast-growing, fossil fuel-intensive transportation mode. Because aviation is a mode for which liquid fuels currently have no practical substitute, biofuels are gaining attention as a promising cleaner alternative. In this paper, we use the GCAM integrated assessment model to develop scenarios that explore the potential impact of biojet fuels for use in aviation in the context of broader climate change mitigation. We show that a carbon price would have a significant impact on the aviation sector. In the absence of alternatives to jet fuel from petroleum, mitigation potential is limited and would be at the expense of aviation service demand growth. However, mitigation efforts through the increased use of biojet fuels show potential to reduce the carbon intensity of aviation, without a significant impact on bioenergy use in the rest of the energy system for carbon mitigation. The potential of biofuel to decarbonize air transport is significantly enhanced when carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is used in the conversion process to produce jet fuels from biomass feedstock. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.