DLR’s Team Showcases the F4EClim project at the Copenhagen Contrails Conference

At the recent Copenhagen Contrails Conference, a global platform dedicated to mitigating aviation’s climate impact, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) showcased its commitment to shaping climate-conscious air transport through the SESAR-funded F4EClim project. Held on March 25-26, the conference brought together key stakeholders from science, aviation, climate research, and policy to develop actionable strategies for reducing the warming effects of contrails and other non-CO₂ emissions.

Representing the F4EClim project, the colleagues from the DLR Institute of Air Transport (LV) actively engaged with a diverse audience including fellow researchers from ETH, TU Delft, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, and key stakeholders from industry (DLH Cargo – EAT, FlightKeys) and policy circles, such as the European Commission’s Dimitar Nikov. They had scientific and operational discussions on how to reduce the non-CO₂ climate effects of aviation—a central aim of the F4EClim initiative.

F4EClim aims to improve the scientific understanding of aviation’s climate effects by refining algorithmic climate change functions (aCCFs), expanding their seasonal and geographic coverage, and integrating them into a climate service for the aviation sector. A key focus of DLR’s contribution is the development of climate-optimized flight planning algorithms that identify eco-efficient trajectories, balancing environmental impact and operational costs.

The conference emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration—a cornerstone of F4EClim and related projects like BeCom and D-KULT—to translate research into real-world aviation solutions.