EBAA welcomes Europe’s airports commitment to net zero CO2 emissions

27 June, 2019 (Brussels). The European Business Aviation Association warmly commends ACI EUROPE for their commitment to net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, indirectly supporting Europe's business aviation sector in achieving its own environmental and wider sustainability goals.

Speaking about the new Sustainability Strategy of the airport industry announced yesterday at the 29th ACI EUROPE Annual Congress & General Assembly in Cyprus:

This renewed commitment to sustainability wholly supports two key mechanisms of the global business aviation commitment to mitigating climate change; infrastructure and operations. We congratulate ACI EUROPE for their vision, efforts and proactive approach to airport management.

Juergen Wiese, EBAA Chairman

The business aviation community in Europe also benefits and contributes directly to the ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, where nine of the top ten business aviation airports are part of this carbon neutrality certification. Under the scheme, TAG Farnborough Airport in the UK was the first business aviation dedicated airport to achieve carbon neutral status in May 2018.

Juergen Wiese added,

At EBAA, we look forward to supporting the ACI Europe Sustainability Strategy. We would like to explore how the European Business Aviation sector can co-lead the aircraft operations sector towards an aviation industry shared vision and roadmap centering long term on a Net Zero carbon emissions air transport system. This sustainability goal is paramount in ensuring the continued ability to provide the societal benefits of the aviation industry.

Juergen Wiese, EBAA Chairman

One of the most promising measures in meeting these goals are the efforts of the global coalition of Business Aviation stakeholders around the promotion and uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) demonstrated at the recent Business Aviation Convention EBACE, in Geneva.

These efforts need to be intensified as operational efficiency measures through airspace structure and air traffic management are not in sight, and do not contribute as expected.

All aviation stakeholders agree that additional system-wide efficiency can only be realized once the current ground-based Air Traffic Control (ATC) infrastructure, as well as the general European Air Traffic Management (ATM) framework, are modernised. This will require for the EU and Member States to fulfil their stated commitment to make the public investment necessary to bring these changes to fruition, improving both efficiency and safety.

EBAA and its members will continue to work actively on the delivery of these improvements, through our collaboration with EUROCONTROL, SESAR JU, SESAR Deployment Manager and the European institutions and regulators.

-ENDS-