As the aviation sector looks to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the biggest gains may not happen in the air but on the ground, stated Tim Lieuwen, the 2025 AIAA Dryden Lecturer in Research, during the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum in January.
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“The least cost way to get to a net-zero society is to take a system view about economy-wide CO2 emissions and where and how aviation fits into that, rather than trying to zero out CO2 emissions sector by sector. It makes sense if you think about it – it’s a whole lot cheaper to manage your CO2 emissions from something that’s sitting on the ground, potentially sitting right above a depleted oil reservoir versus trying to manage something that’s flying around and has to deal with all the safety issues of aviation,” said Lieuwen.
