Groupe ADP and several partner companies belonging to the global airports network, including TAV Airports, Airports International Group (Amman), Liège Airports, ZAG (Zagreb), Nuevo Pudahuel (Santiago de Chile) and Ravinala Airports (Madagascar), have signed the ‘Airports for trust’ charter.
Through the charter, the signatories – representing 23 airports out of the group’s current network of 27 – announced a common ambition to build an even more sustainable and responsible airport industry, with enhanced cooperation. All the signatories of the charter say they share a common ambition: being leaders in terms of environmental protection. This, they state, means being exemplary within their field of action and by taking additional initiatives to extend their policy to the entire airport value chain.
To this end, the charter commits to four main ambitions:
• Move toward zero environmental impact operations, to reach carbon neutrality by 2030 for all the signatories;
• Actively participate in the aviation sector’s environmental transition efforts and, when applicable, provide solutions airside. For example, Paris Aéroport is already working for the arrival of alternative sustainable fuels and hydrogen-powered aircraft, to enable the advent of carbon-free aviation by the middle of the century;
• Promote the integration of each airport into a local resource system; enable short routes, promote circular economy and spread production of resources on site; and
• Reduce the environmental footprint of airport planning and development projects (sober design, low-carbon construction and renovation of infrastructures and building).
The signatory airports also claim they are convinced that the balanced and sustainable development of airport activities need to be intertwined with the creation of value for local communities and thus to investment in human development at a local scale, with a special focus on youth. With this in mind, the charter also commits them to four ambitions:
• Be an active contributor in the improvement of the living conditions of local populations and in noise exposure reduction;
• Build a long-term relationship of trust with the territories and local stakeholders;
• Spread the benefits of the airport activity for local communities (particularly in terms of training integration and employment); and
• Federate the airport community and act together to maximize the positive impacts of airport activity.
At the signing of the charter, Augustin de Romanet, chairman and CEO of Groupe ADP – Aéroports de Paris, stated, “The ‘Airports for Trust’ charter embodies a common vision of the future of our airport industry. At a time when air transport as a whole is facing some of the hardest challenges in its history with the fight against global warming, it can seize this opportunity to reinvent its industrial model in depth, and imagine and apply more efficient and responsible process.
“For Groupe ADP, this means reducing its carbon footprint and strengthening ties with local stakeholders. Groupe ADP and its partners are already [the] world’s leading airport network and, with the signing of this charter, we aim to become the world’s first sustainable airport community.”