Europe’s airports have pledged to accelerate efforts to hit ‘net zero’ CO2 targets but called for government regulatory and financial support.
Airports association ACI Europe reported 235 airports across Europe have now committed to a ‘net zero’ target by 2050 and more than 90 are “set to achieve net zero by 2030”.
The pledges came at an ACI Europe Aviation Sustainability Summit on May 20.
The commitments, first launched in June 2019, are based on airports’ 2019 traffic volumes and estimated carbon footprint – when 2019 was a record year for European air traffic.
Net zero means balancing the volumes of greenhouse gas produced against amounts removed from the atmosphere. At present, this tends to involve extensive carbon offsetting, which can be of questionable value, or carbon trading.
The 235 airports across 29 countries accounted for 68% of Europe’s passenger traffic in 2019.
The 91 airports which aim to meet their net zero commitments by 2030 include Amsterdam Schiphol, Athens International and the airports of Rome, Milan, the Cote d’Azur, Marseilles, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Oslo.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said: “While Covid-19 is an unprecedented shock from which we still must recover, it has only reinforced our resolve to play our part in the transition towards carbon-free economies.
“The renewed and stepped-up ambition levels reflect not just alignment with EU climate goals, but for many airports now targeting net zero by 2030 it means going well beyond the EU’s 2030 reduction target of -55%.”
However, Jankovic highlighted “considerable challenges unless more supportive regulatory and financing frameworks are in place”.
He said: “Delivering on these targets will be extremely challenging given the financial distress Europe’s airports find themselves in.
“Airports are facing an investment crunch, with limited financial support to face the Covid-19 crisis, significant uncertainty over the recovery coupled with constant downward pressure on airport charges, no access to the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and inadequate state aid rules.
“This will hurt investment in sustainability and needs to be addressed by the EU and European states as a matter of priority.”
Niclas Svenningsen, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) global climate action manager, said: “This is the kind of ambition we need.
“Given the relentless pace of the Climate Emergency, we need all stakeholders to get on board with climate action.”