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Eco-Design Transverse Activity

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - GAM-2020-ECO (Eco-Design Transverse Activity)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-03-31

The aviation industry is a strong force for economic growth. New aircraft concepts will play an important role for air transportation for the future. Industry and politics need to know which environmental impacts and what amount of impacts occur in which life cycle stage. The EC and the aviation industry have identified this challenge and launched the CLEAN SKY INITIATIVE with its continuation in the Clean Sky 2 Work Programme. In CS 2 ecoDESIGN is a Transverse Activity. This allows an optimal implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) through every ITD and IADP.
The ecoDESIGN Transverse Activity (TA) delivers a Design for Environment 2020 guidance (DfE 2020+) for the European Aviation industry to help its global competitiveness. Based on experience and progress of Clean Sky 1, this will employ a modern developed Life Cycle Impact Analysis for the integrated Clean Sky 2 portfolio of technologies and their inventories along eight defined eco-themes including eco-statements and socio-economic statements on a micro-economic build-up.
The ecoDESIGN TA takes an integrated perspective of the holistic lifecycle across the products and technologies under development in Clean Sky 2. This means evaluating the eco aspects associated with every stage of the life-cycle, minding the consumption of resources (energy, materials, land and water); emissions into air, water, and the ground that are relevant for general environment and human health, inclusively in the workshop (dust, tool vibration, chemical contact etc). Waste, especially hazardous waste, prominently addressed in environmental legislation is accounted for as well. The assessment picture is being upgraded and newly balanced in view of a grown product umbrella. Implicitly, supply chain opportunities/ factors for equipment and process options have to be logistically considered in aviation material flows.
The ecoDESIGN Transverse Activity Life Cycle Impact Analysis (LCIA) of the technology inventory rises on the CS2 level to three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
- The Re-Use Recycle Quota;
- The Ground Pollution Potential improvement (incl. indicators to equivalent global warming, chemical and energy loads, bio diversity and resource depletion risks)
- Eco-Statements with Socio-Economic Derivative.
Applications have been defined as flagship demonstrators in each IADP/ITD for Master Plan 2023/24 to showcase ecological and economical improvements with regard to Design for Environment DfE2020+. Coordinating and monitoring the delivery of life cycle data from SPDs to Eco TA ecoDESIGN analysis was still a challenge till September 2023. Based on the Life Cycle Data received to date, a set of ground pollution potential indicators has been defined and LCA / Eco Statement reports have been issued. For each SPD a LCA/ES report was performed.
A procedure in dealing with LCA Indicators referencing (yet) state of the art implementation analysis of EU Reference PEF Methods was conducted on the basis of Aviation relevant parts and technologies. The procedure also reflects the managing of the interpretation and the evolution of background aeronautical materials processes and resources and thus adaption of particular indicator sets, midpoint/ endpoint methodology correctness.
The set out FSD Demonstration and contributing products and pilot/stage technology references are being managed and a process has been established to exploit the results in the form of best available technology footprints (in the FSDs) and make out EPD Environmental Product Declarations Type III. Eco TA has established an overall relative commendation level as 40% Environmental Improvement in the final results.
Delivery of life cycle inventory data from SPDs to Eco TA still remains a challenge of the programme. As these life cycle data build the foundation for the life cycle assessment and for the collation of global key performance indicators, coordination measures have been increased to ensure and enforce the delivery of life cycle data from SPDs to Eco TA.
The Eco Hybrid Platform has been released as version for user elaboration and was further populated with Flagship Demonstrator data.
Complementary partner or Thematic Topic Projects to ecoTA and SPDs GAM were integrated, to ensure delivery of validated LCI data according to ecoDESIGN standards.

2023 Major Deliverables:
- LCA/ES reports for LPA, ENG, AIR
- Best Athletes Status Report
- Reference Framework Handbook for LCI/LCA execution
- 2 Set of Foresight Bulletins with peer reviewed publications

2023 Major Milestones
- Workshops for exchange on LCA indicators and conventions.
- Baseline LCI delivery milestones, confirmed
- Flagship demonstrators enforced in IADPs/ITDs for evaluation of ecolonomic impacts
- 3 ecoDESIGN conference sessions at EASN (ecodesign and engineering for sustainable)

2024 Major Deliverables
- LCA/ES reports for REG, FRC, SYS including FSD Module Reports
- Socio-Economic Derivative
- Aviation Eco-Statement based on global KPI
- ecoDESIGN video
- CO2 Factor for TE

2024 Major Milestones
- Final MPR workshop for central cooperation additive manufacturing
- Eco-Hybrid Platform populated with Flagship demonstrator results
- Accession loop for Co-Ownership with 6 partners signing the Letter of intend to proceed with the legal document
Future developments will see an elevated context of Design for Environment 2020+ by ensuring sustainable inventory management through enhanced digital expedience, and by helping the acceleration of resource efficient European production innovations, securing skilled jobs of the future in a global industry.

Each vehicle platform demonstration constitutes a vibrant micro economic test field that in sum are committed in a macro CS2 programming scale. In return for component and flight performance testing, green manufacturing solutions may be built into the next future factory, skills and culture of design, extended to more profitable product service life.

An associated ecoDESIGN guidance indicator framework shall answer to such matters and be commensurate to social impacts, partnering European aviation sector competitiveness and services capacity of the future. For better comparison the EF3.0 indicator set was agreed as minimum standard applied for the LCA results.

The ecoDESIGN Database, one side from the industries & distribution networks, the other complimented from the assimilated aeronautics materials/processes, through Clean Sky directly and indirectly, takes on a mighty challenge. The Flagship demonstrator approach enlarged this challenge and requires more time to complete LCI data sets for the cradle to cradle approach.

The performed eco-statements and socio-economic statements show the improvement of the aviation industry and the reduction of the environmental impacts, when the new technologies developed for the Flagship demonstrators will be applied.
Closed-loop illustration of New Life Cycle Plus Vision for 2020+
Cloosed loop illustration 2024
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