Is Gatwick a Low Carbon Airport? 10 Years On
Ten years ago, we wrote an article discussing Gatwick Airport’s plans to become a low carbon airport by 2025. As the year draws to a close, we have a look at whether they have met their objective.
Gatwick Airport Plans
The second largest airport in the UK, Gatwick Airport is the home to the most efficient single runway airport in the world. In 2015, they revealed plans to expand to meet rapidly growing demand with a second runway, in addition to becoming the UK’s pre-eminent low-carbon airport by 2025.
To help meet these targets, they appointed an environmental expert to work alongside developers to produce a plan detailing how the construction of the second runway, and other developments, would be sustainable and environmentally-friendly, with carbon emissions at a minimum.
Targets in Motion
Despite their initial objective to be ‘low-carbon’ by 2025, Gatwick Airport’s current plan is to become net-zero for direct emissions by 2030.
As ‘low-carbon’ is a somewhat loose term, it’s hard to determine whether they have met this goal, but having a more demanding target in just five years’ time signals that they continue to put sustainability at the forefront of their values. Additionally, their net-zero objective was originally set to be met by 2050, but the airport has moved it forward two decades to 2030 – further demonstrating their dedication to becoming more sustainable on a rapid timescale.
To reach net-zero, Gatwick Airport is putting several plans into place. Firstly, they are investing over £250 million to transition to an electric vehicle fleet and replacing all diesel in their vehicles with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), resulting in a carbon saving of 90%. What’s more, they are the first international airport to open an Electric Forecourt, which is a dedicated electric vehicle charging station that can be used by passengers, staff and business fleets.
Furthermore, Gatwick Airport has been investing in on-site renewable energy such as solar power and sourcing electricity through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which help to finance new renewable energy projects.
As a consequence of their work and dedication, Gatwick Airport has been given the Level 4+ ‘Transition’ status from the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, which recognises its efforts to reduce and offset emissions. This is the only institutionally endorsed, global carbon management certification programme for airports, looking at areas such as ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’, ‘Neutrality’, ‘Transformation’ and ‘Transition’, and achieving a level 4+ is the highest level that can be attained.
Second Runway
In our 2015 article, we highlighted that Gatwick Airport was planning to build a second runway, which has since been completed. The Northern Runway is currently being used as a taxiway and is only available when the Main Runway is out of use, but two months ago the airport was granted consent for the runway to be used for routine traffic, allowing for dual runway operations at the airport. For this to take effect, the runway needs to be moved 12 metres to allow it to be a fully functioning runway, which the airport is hoping will be completed by 2030.
But could this second runway impact carbon emissions and net zero? After working so hard to become Carbon Accredited at level 4+ and their work towards their carbon-neutral airport, it feels counter-productive to be expanding to a point that could increase emissions. The expansion of the new runway is looking to increase annual flights from 280,000 to over 380,000, and with the average long-haul flight creating 102g CO2 per passenger per km, this could mean a rapid increase in overall carbon emissions. Gatwick Airport will need to implement operational strategies that mitigate the increased emissions, otherwise the expansion could undermine their decade of hard work and investment in becoming a low-carbon airport.
