ACACIA: Advancing the Science for Aviation and Climate
At a glance
- Project leader : Dr. Lukas Durdina
- Co-project leader : Dr. Julien Anet
- Project team : Dr. Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig
- Project budget : CHF 82'087
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : EU and other international programmes (Horizon 2020 / Projekt Nr. 875036)
- Project partner : Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research CICERO, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Reading, Universität Wien, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich ETH, Universität Leipzig, Technische Universität Delft, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, French National Centre for Scientific Research CNRS
- Contact person : Lukas Durdina
Description
The EU-H2020 project ACACIA runs for 3.5 years from January 2020
to June 2023.
Non-CO2 emissions of aviation may impact climate as much as
aviation's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions do. However, the impact
of the non-CO2 effects (e.g. ozone and methane from NOx emissions,
contrails, indirect aerosol effects) is associated with much larger
uncertainties. Some of these effects might result in a relatively
large cooling.
ACACIA has four aims for scientifically based and internationally
harmonised policies and regulations for a more climate-friendly
aviation system.
We will improve scientific understanding of those
impacts that have the largest uncertainty, in particular, the
indirect effect of aviation soot and aerosol on clouds.
We will identify needs for international measurement
campaigns to constrain our numerical models and theories with data
and we will formulate several design options for such
campaigns.
Putting all aviation effects on a common scale will
allow providing an updated climate impact assessment. Uncertainties
will be treated in a transparent way, such that trade-offs between
different mitigation strategies can be evaluated explicitly. This
helps our final aim ...
... to provide the knowledge basis and strategic
guidance for future implementation of mitigation options, giving
robust recommendations for no-regret strategies for achieving
reduced climate impact of aviation.
To this end, ACACIA brings together research across scales (from
plume to global scale), from the laboratory experiments to global
models, and it proceeds from fundamental physics and chemistry to
the provision of recommendations for policy, regulatory bodies, and
other stakeholders in the aviation business. Additionally, ACACIA
will cooperate with international partners, both research
institutions and organisations.
In ACACIA, a total of 11 participants from 7 European countries are
collaborating. ACACIA is organised in 6 work packages. Further
goals are the organisation of an international conference.