UK Allocates Funding to Tackle Non-CO2 Aircraft Emissions

The UK government-backed Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) has named the first three projects to be funded under its new ‘Non-CO2 Programme,' which will receive a combined £5.9 million ($7.7 million). The efforts to curtail emissions from sources other than carbon dioxide include contrail modelling and mitigation, the soot and particulate reduction from a specific fuel production pathway, and optimized sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) allocation.

Airbus UK and Rolls-Royce are among the project leaders to benefit from the funding, which was first announced last year. Alongside Oxford-based Oxccu, the ATI expects these three recipients to be the first “in a portfolio of non-CO2 projects” to be supported by the initiative.

The Airbus UK-led ‘Trace’ project (aided by Imperial College London) aims to develop detailed contrail modelling and analysis capabilities, paired with sensor technology. Startup SAF producer Oxccu will also study the reduction its proprietary production process has on the soot and particulate emissions responsible for persistent warning contrails.

Recognising the continuing shortfalls of SAF availability, the ATI explained how another venture will also investigate “how best to target this SAF towards the very small proportion of flights that drive the majority of climate impact”. The Rolls-Royce lead QRITOS (Quantifying Reduction In Thermal contrails by Optimising SAF) will examine what the ATI terms “smarter ways” of using the fuel.

The initiative builds on the UK’s first Non-CO2 Technologies Roadmap, published in 2024, in which the ATI recognised that “non-CO2 atmospheric emissions could potentially make a greater contribution to warming than aviation CO2 itself”. As such, its new funding area is intended to “help advance the aerospace sector’s collective non-CO2 aircraft emissions and the technology needed to address their climate impact”.

The Non-CO2 Programme is a tri-organisation initiative, delivered in partnership by the ATI, the UK Department for Business & Trade, and national innovation agency Innovate UK. It is supported by a broader research programme from the Department for Transport and the Natural Environment Research Council.