The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (CAJU) is a successful public-private partnership between the European Commission and the European aeronautics industry that is on the way to achieving its environmental performance targets.

The Clean Aviation JU will develop disruptive new aircraft technologies to support the European Green Deal, and climate neutrality by 2050. These technologies will deliver net greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of no less than 30%, compared to 2020 state-of-the-art. The technological and industrial readiness will allow the deployment of new aircraft incorporating these technologies no later than 2035, enabling 75% of the world’s civil aviation fleet to be replaced by 2050. The aircraft developed will enable net CO2 reductions of up to 90% when combined with the effect of sustainable ‘drop-in’ fuels, or zero CO2 emissions in flight when using hydrogen as energy source.

Clean Aviation’s aeronautics-related research and innovation activities, focusing on breakthrough technology initiatives, will contribute to the global sustainable competitiveness of the European aviation industry. European aviation research and innovation capacity will be strengthened through the partnership, enabling new and ambitious global standards to be set.

The Clean Aviation Partnership’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda [SRIA] sets out the way to achieve the overall vision, in terms of timescales and magnitude of impact. This integrated research roadmapincludes the required upstream ‘exploratory’ research that is essential to finding tomorrow’s pathways to mature technologies, ready to be incorporated into further new and disruptive innovations.

The Clean Aviation trajectory defines two clear horizons towards climate neutrality by 2050:

• 2030: demonstrating and introducing low-emissions aircraft concepts exploiting the research results of Clean Aviation, making accelerated use of sustainable fuels and optimised ‘green’ operations, so these innovations can be offered to airlines and operators by 2030 for an entry into service [EIS] in the 2030-2035 timeframe;
• 2050: climate-neutral aviation, by exploiting future technologies matured beyond the Clean Aviation phase coupled with full deployment of sustainable aviation fuels and alternative energy carriers.

The Clean Aviation programme is built on three key thrusts, each with targeted R&I and demonstration efforts driving the energy efficiency and the emissions reduction of future aircraft. Each thrust will develop technologies and enablers, leverage essential knowledge and capabilities, and de-risk the identified technologies and solutions, where further maturation, validation and demonstration is required to maximise impact:

• Hybrid electric regional aircraft
• Ultra-efficient short/short-medium range aircraft
• Disruptive technologies to enable hydrogen-powered aircraft

The implementation of the Clean Aviation work programme is divided into two phases:

• The first phase of the programme (Phase 1: 2022 – 2025) is dedicated to identifying highpotential disruptive aircraft concept(s) by assessing a broad set of potentially relevant configurations. This includes the development and maturation of the contributing technologies and key enablers supported by demonstration and validation to allow a down-selection of most promising technology options and integrated solutions.
• The second phase of the programme (Phase 2: 2026-2031), which will largely depend on the outcome of the first phase, will focus on the most promising aircraft architectures and the integration of the selected best candidate technologies to form aircraft concepts. Key elements of this phase will be large-scale integrated aircraft component/system tests and large-scale flying demonstrator platforms to validate and demonstrate the performance of the key technologies and the targeted aircraft at realistic sizes and operational conditions.

The clean aviation technologies that this programme are developing will enable future aircraft to:

• cut fuel burn & related CO2 emissions by 20-30%
• cut noise levels.

Who benefits?

The public – thanks to less noise pollution and lower emissions, better travel options and improved industrial competitiveness in Europe.
The economy – aeronautics is among the EU’s most successful industries. Clean Aviation will help shape a European labour force able to develop the cutting-edge technology necessary to remain on top of the market.
Small & medium-sized businesses – growing numbers of such firms are getting involved through calls for project proposals offered under Clean Aviation. This opens up new opportunities for them and new potential supply chains for established industry players.
Scientific community & academia – Clean Aviation offers ways of speeding up the application of novel technologies. It gives industry and science a chance to jointly address challenges and priorities.

• Environment and Climate Change
• Industry
• Other Services
• Other Thematic Category
• Public Administration
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation
• Transport

• Central Government
• Educational Institutions
• International Organisations
• Large Enterprises
• Legal Entities
• Other Beneficiaries
• Parliamentary Bodies
• Private Bodies
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
• Semi-governmental organisations
• State-owned Enterprises
• Training Centres

Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking

Website: https://www.clean-aviation.eu/
Τelephone: +32 2 221 81 52
Fax: +32 2 221 81 50
Address: Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, White Atrium Building TO56, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium