Defining Advanced Air Mobility Sustainability through UN Sustainable Development Goals

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is commonly thought to have potentially great social and economic benefits for the world, particularly in environmental protection and sustainability. However, while the goals for environmental protection are readily defined, the goals for sustainability need better harmonization and definition. This short note analyses AAM, and through discussions with industry experts, explores the possibility of defining the goals of sustainability in AAM using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). 

 

By Leo Jeoh

Introduction

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an air transportation concept to move people and cargo between places not currently or easily served by existing aviation modes (ICAO, 2022), and AAM is commonly thought to have potentially great social and economic benefits for the world. Environmental protection and sustainability are the commonly cited potential benefits of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), but while CO2 and noise provide tangible metrics to define the goals for environmental protection, the goals for sustainability are rarely well defined. 

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) are a set of goals designed to address a wide range of social, economic, and environmental challenges facing the world, with the aim of achieving a more sustainable and equitable future for all. For civil aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has mapped their strategic objectives to the UN SDGs to help define their contributions to sustainability (ICAO, 2024). Through discussions with industry experts, this brief note explores the possibility of similarly defining the goals for sustainability in AAM using the UN SDGs.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 interconnected global goals from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 (United Nations, 2024). The SDGs aim to end poverty and other deprivations in conjunction with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth while tackling climate change and preserving our oceans and forests. The 17 objectives are shown in Figure 1 and a brief description of each objective is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2024)
Figure 1: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2024)
Figure 2: Brief Description of the 17 UN SDGs (adapted from ICAO, 2024)
Figure 2: Brief Description of the 17 UN SDGs (adapted from ICAO, 2024)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and AAM

AAM is a promising new mode of air transportation that can potentially be a safe, accessible, automated, and affordable means for the transportation of passengers and cargo, serving previously hard-to-reach urban and rural locations, while also preserving the environment (NASA, 2020).  For this note, AAM is considered a complement to the existing conventional means of air mobility, with two broad categories: Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Regional Air Mobility (RAM).

UAM involves the transportation of persons and cargo above the traffic within a city as well as commuting from the outskirts (Drone Industry Insights, 2024), while RAM connects suburbs, villages, small countryside towns, islands, and communities separated by mountainous regions and rivers (NASA, 2021).

AAM involves leveraging innovative aviation technologies to provide UAM and RAM, and involves not just the AAM aircraft (i.e., eVTOLs – electric Vertical Take-off and Landing Vehicles), but also air traffic management systems (i.e., UTM – Unmanned Traffic Management systems), and ground infrastructure such as vertiports, landing areas, and infrastructure to support communications, navigation, situational awareness, and control of AAM aircraft from the ground.

Through discussions with industry experts, the following represents a view of how the development of AAM solutions and services, traffic management to support AAM, and AAM infrastructure could impact the various goals of the UN SDGs.  

UAM / RAM development:

    • Developing RAM solutions to improve accessibility in remote areas and therefore facilitate urgent access to sufficient food for all people (SDG 2).
    • Developing UAM/RAM solutions to facilitate the delivery of food to all people in the case of an emergency, crisis, or disaster, particularly those in vulnerable situations (SDG 2).
    • Developing UAM/RAM solutions to support healthy lives and promote well-being (SDG 3) through applications such as delivering vaccines, blood, food, and supplies in the most needed areas.
    • Developing UAM solutions that limit the impact of international civil aviation operations on local air quality to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (SDG 3).
    • Developing electric aircraft will foster the larger migration of all other transportation systems to use more affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all through increased demand (SDG 7).
    • Developing UAM solutions as a potential innovation in urban ecosystems, which contributes to enhancing scientific research, technological capabilities, and research and innovation (SDG 9), and making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (SDG 11).
    • Developing UAM solutions that provide access to air transport for persons with disabilities and unaccompanied minors to facilitate access to all (SDG 11).
    • Developing UAM solutions to provide coordinated urgent assistance to populations affected by disasters could reduce the impacts of disasters on mortality levels and economic growth, thereby increasing states’ resilience (SDG 11).
    • Developing innovative aircraft technologies to reduce or limit the environmental impact of CO2 emissions from international aviation (SDG 13).
    • Conducting impact assessments on operational improvements for the reduction of fuel burn to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13).
    • Developing UAM and RAM solutions to support the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16) through usages in humanitarian and emergency response and supporting the delivery of life-saving aid.

AAM Traffic Management Development:

    • Developing an air traffic management system to improve accessibility to remote areas and therefore facilitate urgent access to sufficient food for all people all year round (SDG 2).
    • Modernizing and harmonizing air traffic management systems, thereby achieving:
      • Air liberalization as drivers for better access to transportation of passengers and goods, such as humanitarian aid (SDG 1).
      • More efficient flight operations, airspace and airport usage, and optimized departure and arrival rates, thereby improving energy efficiency (SDG 7) and enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization (SDG 11) and reducing congestion (SDG 13).
      • Enhanced airspace capacity, thereby promoting higher levels of economic productivity (SDG 8).
      • Quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure (SDG 9).
    • Developing an air traffic management system that ensures the safe and continuous availability of airspace to conduct international civil aviation operations when disasters occur, contributing to making cities and human settlements more resilient (SDG 11), and the ability to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13).

AAM Infrastructure Development:

    • Developing air transport infrastructure requires dialogue and cooperation between regulators and industry stakeholders for integration within urban eco-systems. Monitoring and benchmarking such air transport infrastructure can facilitate related investments and support economic development and human wellbeing (SDG 9)
    • Developing air transport infrastructure that promotes energy innovation can foster an increase in the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix and improve energy efficiency (SDG 7).
    • Developing air transport infrastructure with safety improvements that will contribute to reducing the number of deaths and people affected by disasters (SDG 11).

Organizationally, it is deemed that the industry and eco-system supporting AAM could also potentially support the UN SDGs in the areas of training and hiring, regulatory development, and international cooperation, as follows:  

Training and Hiring:

    • Providing opportunities for employment, technical and vocation skills improvement, and equal opportunities for women in aviation (SDG 4 and SDG 5).
    • Ensuring that enough qualified and competent aviation professionals are available to operate, manage, and maintain the air transportation systems promotes a higher level of economic productivity and decent employment for all (SDG 8).

Standards Development:

    • Supporting the development of standards and guidance for sustainable manufacturing, recycling, and environmentally sound management of wastes throughout their life-cycle contributes to making cities more resilient and sustainable (SDG 11) and ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12).
    • Supporting the development of standards for global security facilitation enables air transport development that then contributes to higher levels of economic productivity through industrial diversification, technological upgrading, and innovation in aviation (SDG 8).
    • Promoting the harmonization of security and facilitation practices for aviation infrastructure to contribute to the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure (SDG 9).
    • Supporting the development of a global aviation security framework, including standards for facilitation of customs and immigration procedures. These will facilitate the exports of developing countries and realize the timely implementation of duty-free and quota-free arrangements that facilitate market access (SDG 17).

Regulatory Development:

    • Promoting the rule of law at the national and international level to reduce inequalities within and among countries (SDG 10) and promote peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16).

International Cooperation:

    • Fostering international and regional partnerships and cooperation on air navigation capacity and efficiency to strengthen the means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development (SDG 17).

Discussion and Summary

From an initial analysis, it is deemed that AAM developments have a impact on various aspects of the UN SDGs. Specifically, AAM could be very well suited to enable applications that support the goals for Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11). The applications are described as follows and illustrated in Figure 3.

Zero Hunger (SDG 2):

    • Remote and Humanitarian Aid: Facilitate the delivery of food to all people in the case of an emergency, crisis, or disaster, or facilitate accessibility in remote areas for access to sufficient food for all people.

Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3):

    • Medical and Life-saving aid: Applications that support healthy lives and promote well-being (e.g., delivery of vaccines, blood, and food and supplies in the most needed areas).

Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11):

    • Mobility for sustainable urbanization: Applications that make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (e.g., transportation to enhance the mobility of people and goods, providing air transport for persons with disabilities and accompanied minors).
    • Disaster response: Applications that facilitate the provision of urgent assistance to populations affected by disasters (e.g., facilitate the delivery of goods to all people in the case of an emergency, crisis, disaster, or keeping communities safe from forest fires)
Figure 3: AAM sustainability goals using UN SDGs
Figure 3: AAM sustainability goals using UN SDGs

In developing AAM, the technologies developed could also support the goals of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), and Climate Action (SDG 13) as follows (and illustrated in Figure 4):

Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7):

    • Electrification: Application of affordable, reliable, sustainable, renewable, and modern energy (e.g., electrification), thereby reducing fuel burnt to combat climate change and its impacts and contributing to the larger migration of all other transportation systems to modern energy.

Climate Action (SDG 13):

    • Noise and air quality improvement: Focus on limiting the impact of international civil aviation operations on local air quality, CO2 emissions, and noise for improved human well-being.
Figure 4: AAM technology development sustainability goals aligned to UN SDGs
Figure 4: AAM technology development sustainability goals aligned to UN SDGs

AAM companies can further contribute to the SDGs by supporting standards development, regulatory development, international cooperation, and training and hiring practices to provide technical and vocational skills improvement, higher level of economic productivity, and equal opportunities to all.  

References

  • Drone Industry Insights (2024, 07 Feb), The future of transportation: what is advanced, regional, and urban air mobility?, AAM, UAM, RAM: Air Mobility Defined | Droneii.com 2024, Drone Industry Insights, https://droneii.com/what-is-aam-uam-ram-air-mobility
  • ICAO (2022), Working paper: Agenda Item 31: Aviation Safety and Air Navigation Standardization, ICAO Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Group, A41-WP/245 TE/88, 02 Aug 2022
  • ICAO (2024), ICAO and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, ICAO, https://www.icao.int/about-icao/aviation-development/Pages/SDG.aspx
  • NASA (2020), Advanced Air Mobility: What is AAM? Student Guide, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, May 2020.
  • NASA (2021), Regional Air Mobility: Leveraging our national investments to energize the American Travel Experience. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, April 2021
  • United Nations (2024), The 17 Goals | Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, https://sdgs.un.org/goals.