EUROCONTROL has just released new updates to its platform of sustainability services designed to support the aviation sector in accelerating the transition towards sustainability.
The new FlyingGreen release makes available improved emissions calculations and provides a neutral perspective in predicting possible emission reductions in relation to foreseen investment. The platform’s third update now also gives economic insights into environmental costs, updates its climate change impact repository, advanced analytics on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and a new sustainable finance tool. FlyingGreen is a key priority of EUROCONTROL’s corporate programme Raising the Bar: EUROCONTROL 2030.
“Through our continued cooperation with over 100 stakeholders on EUROCONTROL’s FlyingGreen platform we have been able to significantly increase the tools and services freely available to support the aviation sector in becoming more sustainable and increasing climate change resilience. As investment is crucially important to transform the sector, FlyingGreen now offers a range of possibilities to help aviation actors bolster their business case with strong sustainability insight.” – Marilyn Bastin Head of Aviation sustainability EUROCONTROL
EUROCONTROL FlyingGreen’s services are grouped under four strategic pillars: reducing emissions by modelling decarbonisation pathways (NetZero), transitioning to sustainable fuels (Fuelling Decarb), building resilience to climate change (ClimAdapt), and accessing to green funding (DecarbFin).
New FlyingGreen features now available
Under the NetZero pillar that supports aviation in forecasting CO2 emissions and modelling decarbonisation pathways, FlyingGreen now offers:
- a dedicated emission and fuel burn dashboard tailored for air navigation service providers, covering their entire area of responsibility,
- improved emission and fuel calculations now based on detailed trajectory forecasts rather than generic country-level traffic growth rates,
- expanded “what-if” simulations allowing stakeholders to model potential efficiency gains,
- detailed economic insights into environmental costs.
Based on EUROCONTROL’s unique air traffic data and decades of experience, the tool gives a neutral perspective in predicting possible emission reductions in relation to foreseen investment, e.g. supporting operational stakeholders and Member States in improvements at country, airspace, or airport level.
Under the FuellingDecarb pillar that supports assessing SAF readiness and renewable energy availability, FlyingGreen now offers advanced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and energy analytics, such as:
- SAF plants: Estimate the number of required SAF plant installations.
- Hydrogen for aircraft: Refined technical parameters to determine hydrogen production requirements (water, electrolyser, liquefaction, logistics).
- Cost of SAF, hydrogen, and related electricity infrastructure: Estimate the production cost of bio-SAF and e-SAF, including cost for feedstock, electricity (several energy sourcing options), hydrogen, and CO₂ involved in the industrial process, and related logistics cost. Calculate the cost of the renewable energy infrastructure required to produce e-SAF and hydrogen (out of solar panels, wind turbines or nuclear reactors).
In the ClimAdapt section that supports aviation in recognising climate change impacts and building resilience to maintain infrastructure and operations, users can now find updates to the climate change risk guidance and repositories:
- a new financial planning feature allows stakeholders to analyse the economic implications of climate change impacts. Users can assess the likelihood of climate-related disruptions and estimate potential financial losses across key operational areas.
- the updated repository enables stakeholders to identify impacts specific to their regions and appropriate adaptive responses.
The DecarbFin section provides guidance on enhanced environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting and compliance with the EU Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). As part of the new release the capabilities to support stakeholders in discovering funding have been extended from public funding possibilities to now also include
- a new sustainable finance tool Funding Booster that supports aviation fund seekers in finding ways for private investment into sustainable aviation in 44 European States, with particular relevance for regional airlines and airports as well as small-and medium-sized enterprises,
- a high-level dashboard of sustainable finance transactions recently issued in Europe.
Guidance on reporting and compliance with the EU Taxonomy and CSRD remains available in the Bluebook section supporting the aviation sector in developing their ESG case.
