Ferrovial S A : Cleaner, Greener Airports, it’s not a myth, it is taking steps to make it a reality

How aviation contributes to the economy?

According to theAir Transport Action Group (ATAG)air transport generates a total of 29 million jobs globally. Of these 29 million jobs, 4.3 million people are employed directly by airlines or airports, contributing to US$ 275 billion of GDP to the global economy.

The aviation sector creates millions of jobs while facilitating; connectivity between remote places, support to the tourism industries or millions of imports and exports making possible global business. Therefore, airports play an essential role for society globally in terms of business, tourism or helping people visiting friends and family from everywhere in the world.

How's the aviation sector addressing climate change crisis?

While it's clear that aviation brings tons of positive impacts to communities and the economy, it's also true it has a negative effect towards the environment. That is the reason why for the last years governments and the aviation sector have been working in new policies and legislation as a response to the current climate emergency crisis. Although aviation is still fully recovering from the pandemic, airports are already focusing on addressing new sustainability strategies while maintaining economic activity.

In February 2020, the UK aviation industry responded when it committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which, at the time, was the first national net zero aviation commitment anywhere in the world.

Sustainable Aviation's decarbonisation roadmap laid out the plan to achieve this and included key measures such as investment in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), cleaner aircraft and engine technology and an airspace modernisation programme.

Small details that make a difference for the environment

Aberdeen International Airport has been carbon neutral since 2019 for the emissions under our direct control and we aim to achieve net zero for our direct emissions by mid 2030s.

The electricity is also purchased from 100 per cent renewable sources and we divert 100 per cent of our waste from landfill. Another compromise we are working on for preventing the climate change is working towards eliminating single-use plastic from the terminal. How can you do that at an International Airport with huge amounts of people? By installing water refill stations to allow passengers to fill up their own water bottles and a counter which lets people know how many plastic bottles have been refilled using the station.

Reducing food waste:

There's enough food produced to end global hunger, but according to a study by the sustainable charityWaste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)at least one-third (1.3 billion tonnes of food thrown away) of this food goes to waste.

For this reason, focusing on reducing food waste and donate excess food items that are still consumable to a local homeless charity is a good initiative to carry out at your airport too. Aberdeen International Airports gives all the excess food items to Aberdeen Cyrenians, which supports thousands of the most vulnerable people in society. This is an important first step, however, it's true an airport has a wider impact over and above direct emissions. That is why it's vital to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions (Scopes 1 to 3) by 2045.

What does the future of aviation look like?

Hydrogen aircraft? electric planes? or sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)?

In truth, it is most likely a mixture of all three of these amazing technologies and you might be surprised to find out work has already begun.

In October 2022, Aberdeen International Airport welcomed its first commercial delivery of sustainable aviation fuel. The SAF was delivered by Air bp and will be blended with traditional jet fuel for Bristow flights to bp's North Sea offshore operations in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

Bp is the first North Sea operator to voluntarily commit to an ongoing supply of SAF for its North Sea flights, helping to decarbonise the transport to its offshore operations.

It is recognised globally that SAF will play a major role in making jet zero aviation a reality and SAF has the potential to significantly reduce UK aviation emissions.

There is a real opportunity with this initiative to help drive a domestic SAF industry here in the UK and in doing so, supporting the decarbonisation of the oil and gas sector transport.

Produced from sustainable feedstocks such as used cooking oil, SAF delivers up to 80% fewer lifecycle carbon emissions than the traditional jet fuel it replaces. It is designed as a 'drop-in' fuel, safe to use in existing aircraft and airport infrastructure.

Aberdeen, through AGS Airports has also signed a deal with ZeroAvia, the leader in developing zero-emission solutions for commercial aviation. This will explore the development of hydrogen fuel infrastructure, regulatory framework requirements and resourcing required for delivering zero-emission flights from Aberdeen and its sister airport Glasgow.

Working closely with ZeroAvia's specialist airport infrastructure team the plan is to assess the opportunities for hydrogen production onsite, as well as exploring potential commercial routes.

Switching some routes to aircraft powered by ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric powertrain will help AGS Airports to significantly reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions from aircraft and reduce noise and air quality impacts locally. At the same time, AGS will explore how hydrogen can be used to remove emissions across ground operations, further extending the impact.

Zero-emission route flights will better connect Scotland's major cities to remote areas in the highlands and islands, but also to other parts of the UK within the next few years. Given the reduced operating costs and lower noise profile offered by hydrogen-electric engines, operating more flights becomes attractive and can thus boost regional economic growth. Aircraft relevant to ZeroAvia's first commercial offering (ZA600) already operate from Glasgow, and there is a potential to expand zero-emission flights across the AGS group to Aberdeen and Southampton.

The ZA600 is designed to power 9-19 seat aircraft up to 300 nautical miles and will soon be flight tested for the first time in a 19-seat Dornier 228. ZeroAvia's mission is to deliver hydrogen-electric engines into every aircraft, having identified the technology as the most practical, economical, and furthest reaching solution for reducing aviation's climate change and clean air impacts. Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which is then used to power electric motors to turn the aircraft's propellers, with the only byproduct being water.

Working towards a more sustainable future

At Aberdeen Airports these efforts in working towards a more sustainable future have been recognised the last three years by the leading global sustainability organisation, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). GRESB provides standardised and validated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data to the capital markets. Each year, GRESB assesses and benchmarks the ESG performance of real assets worldwide. Aberdeen was rated fifth in the UK in the 2022 latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) benchmark results. In the wider EU panel of airports Aberdeen ranked seventh and in the global panel came out twelfth.

Operating such important pieces of infrastructure comes with responsibilities, to the people, to communities and to the environment. It's important to work on a sustainability strategy with the purpose of making national and international connections beneficial to the regions and help people prosper.It is also anchored in the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which are defined as: "A blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosper."

Using the SDGs, we have identified key priorities which have been grouped into the three pillars of environmental, social and economic impacts, referred to as the "triple bottom line" by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the international institution that sets global sustainability reporting.

We have already highlighted a number of initiatives, but we continue to think of new ways to bring down our impact including being the one of the first airports to trial a biodegradable security bags.

Being committed to working with governments to ensure you play an important role in addressing the climate emergency it's a perfect way of giving importance to the communities. In the next blog, we'll share more details of an innovative project looking at how drones could help the NHS in Scotland.