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Meeting Environmental Challenges

Last Updated On 17 July 2025

Crossing the Atlantic in an aeroplane or sending a human being to the Moon: for a century, aerospace research has never ceased to achieve what many thought impossible. At ISAE-SUPAERO, we are mobilising to meet this challenge and respond to the environmental and societal issues we face. 35% of internal and collaborative research projects are directly aimed at decarbonisation or are linked to the transition to sustainable aerospace by 2024.

Development of a method for quantifying the impact of research projects on the environment

In 2024, our DRRP teams at ISAE-SUPAERO developed a method for quantifying the impact of research projects on the environment.

To assess the ambition of our research projects in the transition to a sustainable society, a working group initiated a metric that revealed that more than a third (35%) of the research projects conducted at our Institute have a significant impact on the environment.

Our methodology measures all current projects and provides a concrete basis for work, even if it is not yet applicable to all areas of research.

Our tool is available to other interested research laboratories and establishments and takes the form of a questionnaire divided into three themes:

the direct environmental impact of the project
the environmental issues addressed
any strategies and solutions implemented to reduce environmental impact.

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The important thing is to show how environmental and sustainable development issues have evolved from year to year.

Grégoire Casalis Director of Research and Educational Resources

The Mermoz Challenge: a pilotless, zero-emission aircraft to cross the South Atlantic

In January 2023, the first hydrogen gas-powered demonstrator, developed by ISAE-SUPAERO in partnership with H3 DYNAMICS, successfully completed its first radio-controlled flight on the runway of the Muret aeromodelling club.

This marks a major milestone in the development of this future lightweight electric drone, which is fully autonomous and emits no CO2 in flight.

The project was initiated in 2018 by our team of ISAE-SUPAERO researchers led by Professor Jean-Marc Moschetta.

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The aim of this exploit is to demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of this aircraft, powered electrically by an energy package combining a fuel cell and a photovoltaic panel, capable of flying very long distances and light enough to enter the French certification category for out-of-sight flights. The next key stage of the project is to develop a version of the drone powered by liquid hydrogen.

Jean-Marc Moschetta Professor ISAE-SUPAERO

AeroMAPS, a decision-making tool for air transport transition

What impact should each air transport transition strategy have?

This is the question our AeroMAPS project sets out to answer. AeroMAPS aims to develop open source tools to explore and assess the sustainability of transition scenarios for air transport. In particular, the aim is to build an integrated sectoral assessment model that includes technological, environmental, economic and sociological considerations. More concretely, it would make it possible, for example, to assess the impact of transition strategies (hydrogen aircraft, flight quotas, etc.) on CO2 emissions, ticket prices and usage. Our project is part of the Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA) because of its multidisciplinary nature.

Our project currently comprises two tools:

A tool to facilitate decision-making and contribute to public debate

In addition to our research and training activities, the aim of our project is to facilitate decision-making for institutional, industrial and association decision-makers in the aeronautics ecosystem. More broadly, AeroMAPS is a way for us at ISAE-SUPAERO to contribute to the public debate on the place of aviation in our society.

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ISA – Institute for Sustainable Aviation

Created in 2021 on the initiative of internationally renowned academic institutions with longstanding academic expertise in the field of aeronautics and air transport, the ISA is an institute dedicated to the challenges of aviation’s transition to sustainability.

Around twenty research projects

ISA is conducting some twenty research projects on fleet renewal, changes in passenger demand, the adoption of new technologies and pricing, the elasticity of demand, the economic trajectory and life-cycle analysis of sustainable aviation fuel production processes, and the impact of the Air Passenger Transport Tax.

Find out more about ISA

Our high-impact projects

In Brussels on 20 January 2020, the IMOTHEP project (Investigation and Maturation of Technologies for Hybrid Electric Propulsion), funded by the European Commission as part of Horizon 2020, was officially launched. ISAE-SUPAERO is one of 33 industrial and academic partners in the IMOTHEP consortium led by ONERA, whose aim is to assess the potential of hybrid electric propulsion to reduce emissions from commercial aviation and to build the European technological roadmap for its development. Our researchers from the Aerodynamics, Energy and Propulsion Department (DAEP) will be taking part in this project and will be contributing to the work on aeropropulsion integration, in particular the modelling of thrusters and the design of air inlets for breakthrough configurations.

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ISAE-SUPAERO is taking part in HERA, Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft, one of the European research projects on decarbonising aviation. HERA aims to identify hybrid-electric regional aircraft concepts flying over typical distances of less than 500 kilometres that can meet the climate challenges.

The aim is to evaluate the key technologies and architectures in order to offer a range of regional-interurban transport by the 2030s.

ISAE-SUPAERO is involved in studies on the overall, optimised design of the aircraft, with a particular focus on the integration of high aspect ratio wings and thermal management solutions. This activity will enable the extension of projects already carried out by the aircraft design and flight dynamics team of the Aerospace Vehicle Design and Control Department (DCAS), such as the Clean Sky U-HARWARD project.

Air conditioning systems for future carbon-free aircraft: ISAE-SUPAERO and Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse join forces

Adapting transport to carbon-free energies requires major changes in systems architecture. On aircraft, many sub-systems, such as propulsion units or air conditioning packs, are affected in this way. The turbomachinery that makes them up must be adapted: in the electrification process, the operating range required for turbines and compressors must be increased beyond the current state of the art, while offering high efficiency. This is the aim of the CASTOR Chair. It is a joint research programme between Liebherr-Aerospace and ISAE-SUPAERO, supported by the ANR. A team of twelve people will lead the scientific programme over a four-year period, divided between the DAEP laboratory and the company.

The primary objective is to help meet the electrification requirements of aircraft air conditioning systems. However, the research carried out will also contribute to the development of more efficient fuel cells or heat recovery cycles. In the long term, it is aimed at the emergence of new turbomachinery system architectures, which could infuse other industrial sectors.

Impact of Climate Change on Aviation (ICCA)

> project leader Nicolas Gourdain (DAEP)

Antenne Plasma du DEOS - Bâtiment 7 - ISAE-SUPAERO - Toulouse - 10/02/2022

The objective of the ClimateFly project is to translate the uncertainties over the atmospheric variables impacted by climate change and over the aircraft's engine and aerodynamic characteristics into a quantified estimate of the reduction in the aircraft's maximum authorised load to satisfy the take-off phase.

The ensemble propagation of uncertainties will make it possible to quantify, for example, a number of days of weight restrictions in different regions of the world and for different levels of global warming: 1.5 and 2°C (target set in the Paris agreements), 3 or 4°C for more pessimistic scenarios (which must nevertheless be considered in a risk estimation approach).

The advantage of this approach is that it presents a summary result for the different emission scenarios and over the decades up to 2100. This so-called direct strategy will be supplemented by an inverse strategy, which consists of identifying the values and uncertainties of the input variables in order to comply with a constraint on the output variables.

ECoDesigning Tomorrow's Optimal Aerostructures

> project leader Joseph Morlier (DMSM)

This cross-disciplinary and collaborative work covers the field of optimal design of materials/structures, but also of processes via life cycle analysis and the CO2 impact assessment of the process (including type of transport, place of manufacture, recyclability, etc.) as well as reasoned/optimised high-performance computing.

Construction Of Novel CERTification methOds and means of compliance for disruptive technologies

> Project leader Joel Jezegou (DCAS)

The CONCERTO project aims to develop draft certification regulations for innovative Clean Aviation architectures (SMR, HER, H2 aircraft), and to experiment with solutions for digitalising the certification process.

ISAE-SUPAERO is heavily involved in steering the risk analysis work package for existing certification regulations and investigating gaps. In addition, the Institute is making a significant contribution to the work packages defining generic concepts for hydrogen-powered aircraft and drafting certification regulations.

Environmentally responsible recycling of Ti6Al4V chips from the aerospace industry

> project leader Kamel Moussaoui (DMSM)

The objectives of the RECoTIA project are to improve the recycling stages for Ti6AI4V chips, to obtain decontaminated aerospace-grade chips and then to recover the chips for additive manufacturing.

Role of ISAE-SUPAERO :
- additive manufacturing processes,
- mechanical and metallurgical characterisation.

Our innovative chairs focusing on environmental issues

For several years now, at ISAE-SUPAERO, we have been working closely with the major players in the aeronautics industry to find appropriate responses to current issues in terms of the ecological transition. With the help of the ISAE-SUPAERO Foundation, several training and research Chairs have been created to work on new air transport concepts and propose innovative solutions to reduce ecological impact.

The CEDAR Chair (Chair for Eco Design of Aircraft)

The CEDAR Chair, launched with AIRBUS in 2013 and renewed in 2019 and 2024, aims to provide a response to the environmental issues facing the aeronautical sector.

The aim of our Chair is to define disruptive concepts for air transport by introducing innovative technologies right from the aircraft design stage. The main thrusts of our Chair incorporate a more global approach to environmental engineering, and are primarily aimed at raising awareness and training our future aeronautical engineers in sustainable development in the air transport sector.

The AEGIS Chair (Aero EnGine Innovative Studies)

The AEGIS Chair, developed with SAFRAN since 2016, is based around a research programme on innovative propulsion architecture concepts that will equip the next generations of aircraft.

The aim of our Chair is to reduce the environmental footprint of aircraft propulsion by cutting pollutant and noise emissions.

The ISAAR Chair (Innovation Solutions for CS-23 Aircraft Architecture and Regulation)

The ISAAR Chair, created with DAHER in 2019, aims to conduct research into the design and certification of light aircraft with hybrid-electric propulsion.

Our Chair’s research focuses on three areas

Reducing the environmental impact of aviation, in particular by hybridising on-board energy sources and exploring innovative aircraft architectures and operating modes,
understanding society’s needs in terms of mobility. Formalising and modelling these needs will enable us to design the type of operations and aircraft that can meet them,
certification of these new architectures, incorporating the new regulatory approach introduced by the aviation safety authorities for CS-23 category aircraft. In particular, this approach will encourage the introduction of innovations in aircraft while guaranteeing the high level of safety required in aviation.

The Viraj H2 start-up

Co-founded in 2023 by two students, an engineering student from ISAE-SUPAERO and a graduate of Polytech Lille, Viraj H2 is a start-up housed in our ISAE-SUPAEO incubator, InnovSpace.
The company is developing a hybrid powertrain combining a fuel cell and a turbo-prop with heat and steam recovery.

In 2023, our start-up was awarded the Lopez-Loreta Foundation prize of €1 million. This gave us the means to move from a low-power prototype to a structured research and development phase within three partner laboratories.

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