GSA

Background and Aim

Aim
Green Airports aimed to:

• Contribute to efficient and competitive airport operational cost structures by joint development and implementation of eco-efficient energy applications and reduction of operation-specific resource consumption
• Create better accessibility between airports, regions and cities to achieve an increasing share in modal split of public transport operators.

Background
Within the past decade, the aviation industry realized a remarkable traffic growth contributing to rising European demand on economic and social cohesion, as well as to territorial cohesion, by improving air side accessibility and economic competitiveness. Nevertheless, rising air traffic volumes also imposes negative impacts and costs on society and the environment, which becomes more crucial in context of the climate change.

Small and medium sized airports (SMAs) need growth to ensure accessibility and to encourage economic development in the regions. On the other hand, European policies require the reduction of CO2 emissions and encourage the use of renewable energy. The IATA adopted carbon neutral growth in 2020 and the European Environment ministers set the targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions from aviation by 10% by 2020.

To reach this goal, the SMAs face a great challenge: How can they combine the goals for sustainability with a justifiable growth, within the set limitations? Possible solutions include:

• Integrating aspects for sustainability (i.e. renewable energy sources) in airport management
• Reducing the amount of chemicals for example for de-icing
• Introducing CO2 reduction and noise-abating measures for arrival and departure procedures
• Improving public transport to and from the airports and make this 'green'.