European airports commit to carbon neutrality by 2030

At the COP21 climate change discussions in Paris this week, the European airport industry committed to raising the number of carbon-neutral airports in Europe to 50 by the year 2030. To attain carbon neutrality, a facility must emit no net carbon, often by offsetting its emissions with some other clean energy source – for example, replacing fossil fuels with solar panels.

The intergovernmental panel on climate change reported that aviation’s total CO2 emissions amount to 2 percent of global emissions. Airport operations account for up to 5 percent of that total, the panel said.

There are 20 carbon-neutral airports in Europe at present. These include Avinor Oslo and Tondheim Airports in Norway; Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Eindhoven Airports in the Netherlands; Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate and Venice Airport in Italy; Ankara Esenboga and ICF Antalya Airport in Turkey; and all 10 airports operated by Swedavia AB in Sweden.

The Airport Carbon Accreditation program was launched in Europe in 2009. Accreditation certifies airports at four different levels which are mapping, reduction, optimization, and neutrality.  There are 93 airports in Europe.

Airports Council International Europe president and Aeroports de Paris chief executive Augustin de Romanet said “Europe’s airports are fully behind the objective of keeping global warming below 2 degrees C.”