Industrialization has driven intensive exploitation of fossil carbon resources, resulting in surging atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Restoring global carbon cycle balance now demands effective decarbonization strategies. Yet despite rapid growth in renewable energy, spatiotemporal mismatches between supply and demand prevent electricity from fully displacing fossil fuels. Hydrogen energy faces similar obstacles, including variable production costs and geographic imbalances between sources and consumers. Here, we propose an integrated pathway for synthesizing sustainable carbon-cycle fuels that enables long-duration, high-capacity spatiotemporal regulation of renewable energy. This approach couples renewable electricity-driven water electrolysis for green hydrogen production with CO₂ captured via direct air capture (DAC) or industrial carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies. The captured CO₂ and hydrogen then undergo photosynthesis-inspired catalytic conversion to yield carbon-neutral liquid fuels. This strategy leverages advanced catalysis, promotes carbon cycling, and remains compatible with existing refining infrastructure. Although challenges persist in catalyst longevity, system efficiency, and production economics, continued technological progress should enable large-scale chemical storage of renewable energy—offering a viable pathway toward global deep decarbonization.

Considering the increasing concerns regarding climate change, a fundamental transformation in global energy policies is imperative, particularly within the aviation sector, which is historically anchored in the consumption of fossil fuels. This perspective presents a scholarly evaluation of the progression from deep-rooted fossil-fuel-dependent technologies to innovative strategies aimed at carbon neutrality, specifically focusing on the formulation of sustainable aviation fuel from CO₂. An analytical review of the cutting-edge methodologies for CO₂-to-jet fuel conversion is provided, and the practicality of current industrial models are assessed. This perspective explores the intricate consequences of adopting such groundbreaking technologies and evaluates their technical practicability, economic feasibility, and environmental advantages. The insights obtained from this study will substantially contribute to the discussion on energy sustainability, emphasizing the synergy between sophisticated CO₂ conversion processes and the overarching goal of realizing global carbon neutrality.