The voice of Europe’s airports has received a ringing endorsement for its efforts in pursuing a net zero-carbon agenda across European aviation.

In a keynote address delivered during the inaugural Aviation Sustainability Summit in Brussels (22 January), Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) praised ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme and the European airport industry’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“You provide an example of bold – necessary – action on climate change, that is an example to the rest of the aviation industry, and in fact all industries,” he said.

Hosted by ACI Europe and held under the patronage of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and István Ujhelyi MEP, the summit gathered representatives from airlines, airports, Eurocontrol, Airbus, NGOs and other important stakeholders from EU institutions and member states.

Two main topics occupied discussion: decarbonising aviation to align with the EU 2050 climate neutrality objective and ways to achieve more sustainable airports.

Jost Lammers, President, ACI Europe: “The challenge we face in fully decarbonising aviation is daunting, as we have no silver bullet to get there. But there is no escape.”

EIGHT MORE AIRPORTS SIGN NET ZERO PLEDGE

Jost Lammers, President of ACI Europe opened the event with the following comments: “Our purpose with this high-level Summit is to bring together all stakeholders to play their part in responding to the climate emergency and aligning with the European Green Deal.

“The challenge we face in fully decarbonising aviation is daunting, as we have no silver bullet to get there. But there is no escape; the aviation sector needs to complement its current CO2 reduction targets with a long-term ambition for net zero. As airports, we are thrilled to see some European airlines taking the lead to move in that direction – along with us.”

In response to the global sustainability and climate change emergency, which sits at the top of its agenda, ACI Europe has set targets for Europe’s air transport industry in line with the Paris Agreement and aforementioned EU climate neutrality objective.

A major aim is to eliminate European aviation’s carbon footprint by 2050, which falls under a ACI Europe resolution (‘Net Zero 2050’ pledge) launched in June.

More than 200 airports have undersigned the pledge, with a further eight announced at the summit – Antwerp, Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, Birmingham, La Rochelle, Marseille-Provence, Newcastle, Ostend-Bruges and Zagreb.

Additionally, a number of others have refined their plans towards net zero carbon.

Three regional airports in Sweden – Luleå, Ronneby and Visby – have already achieved the target, without any carbon capture, with seven others including Stockholm-Arlanda on course to hit it in the coming 12 months.

Last week, Aéroports de la côte d’Azur shared plans for zero greenhouse gas emissions in 10 years. This covers the following airports: Nice Côte d’Azur, Cannes Mandelieu and Golfe de Saint-Tropez.