IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v113y2023ics0969699723001114.html

Investigating the robustness of UK airport net zero plans

Author

Listed:
  • Hemmings, Peter
  • Mulheron, Michael
  • Murphy, Richard J.
  • Prescott, Matt

Abstract

Airports hold a critical role in the success of the air transport systems' transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions. As airport net zero targets and plans are released, it is necessary to establish their alignment with current best practice. A net zero for airports framework is developed through literature review incorporating sector-specific themes of importance. Publicly available net zero and sustainability documents of 14 UK airport organisations are reviewed against the framework. Most strategies align with best practice in terms of ‘approach’: prioritising emission reduction, describing implementation plans, and demonstrating immediate implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Hemmings, Peter & Mulheron, Michael & Murphy, Richard J. & Prescott, Matt, 2023. "Investigating the robustness of UK airport net zero plans," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:113:y:2023:i:c:s0969699723001114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699723001114
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102468?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burbidge, Rachel, 2018. "Adapting aviation to a changing climate: Key priorities for action," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 167-174.
    2. Sebastian, R.M. & Louis, J., 2021. "Understanding waste management at airports: A study on current practices and challenges based on literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    3. Wolfe, Philip J. & Kramer, John L. & Barrett, Steven R.H., 2017. "Current and future noise impacts of the UK hub airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 91-99.
    4. Niklas Höhne & Matthew J. Gidden & Michel Elzen & Frederic Hans & Claire Fyson & Andreas Geiges & M. Louise Jeffery & Sofia Gonzales-Zuñiga & Silke Mooldijk & William Hare & Joeri Rogelj, 2021. "Wave of net zero emission targets opens window to meeting the Paris Agreement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(10), pages 820-822, October.
    5. Peter Hemmings & Michael Mulheron & Richard J. Murphy & Matt Prescott, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 Disruption on the Decarbonisation Agenda at Airports: Grounded or Ready for Take-Off?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-25, November.
    6. Thomas Hale & Stephen M. Smith & Richard Black & Kate Cullen & Byron Fay & John Lang & Saba Mahmood, 2022. "Assessing the rapidly-emerging landscape of net zero targets," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 18-29, January.
    7. Sam Fankhauser & Stephen M. Smith & Myles Allen & Kaya Axelsson & Thomas Hale & Cameron Hepburn & J. Michael Kendall & Radhika Khosla & Javier Lezaun & Eli Mitchell-Larson & Michael Obersteiner & Lava, 2022. "The meaning of net zero and how to get it right," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 15-21, January.
    8. Joeri Rogelj & Oliver Geden & Annette Cowie & Andy Reisinger, 2021. "Net-zero emissions targets are vague: three ways to fix," Nature, Nature, vol. 591(7850), pages 365-368, March.
    9. Ryley, Tim & Baumeister, Stefan & Coulter, Liese, 2020. "Climate change influences on aviation: A literature review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 55-64.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yan, Jin & Liu, Lancui & Gao, Xue & Yan, Haoben & Kuang, Shiyi, 2025. "Talk or walk? Evidence from 59 countries on the impact of the net-zero target on low-carbon technology innovation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Comello, Stephen & Reichelstein, Julia & Reichelstein, Stefan, 2023. "Corporate carbon reporting: Improving transparency and accountability," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-026, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Leonardo Nascimento & Takeshi Kuramochi & Niklas Höhne, 2022. "The G20 emission projections to 2030 improved since the Paris Agreement, but only slightly," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(6), pages 1-24, August.
    4. Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming & Antoniou, Constantinos & Budd, Lucy & Castro-Nuno, Mercedes & Ding, Yida & Eliasson, Jonas & Goessling, Stefan & He, Sylvia Y. & Ison, Stephen & Jiang, Changmin & , 2025. "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to challenges in transport policy research: Towards ANSWERing questions regarding life, mobility, and everything," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Jiang, Kai & Xin, Baogui & Santibanez Gonzalez, Ernesto D.R., 2025. "Can industrial intelligence promote net-zero development? An analysis of resource dependence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Holmes, Mark E. & Ryley, Tim & Ward, Aletha & Fein, Erich C. & Martin, Sophia, 2024. "Australasian aviation climate change hazards: A systematic review," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Guo, Manze & Cao, Danni & Peng, Yongxin & Janson, Bruce, 2026. "Decoding the impact of extreme weather on aviation safety and economic losses using the SELENA-Net deep learning model," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 267(PA).
    8. Nam-Shin Kim & Jae-Ho Lee & Chang-Seok Lee, 2025. "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Carbon Sequestration Potential Across South Korea: A CASA Model-Based Assessment of NPP, Heterotrophic Respiration, and NEP," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Ananya Das & Arpita Ghosh, 2025. "Vision Net Zero: A review of decarbonisation strategies to minimise climate risks of developing countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(10), pages 23665-23701, October.
    10. Zhuang, Yuan & Zhou, Haiwei & Wang, Teng & Zhang, Lina & Cheng, Changgao, 2025. "Local and spillover effects of net-zero actions on SDG 7," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    11. Gregory Trencher & Sascha Nick & Jordan Carlson & Matthew Johnson, 2024. "Demand for low-quality offsets by major companies undermines climate integrity of the voluntary carbon market," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Zhuang Ma & Zupeng Chen & Zeli Yuan & Changyue Ren & Binyu Zhang & Yanbin Cui & Xinmin Li & Rajenahally V. Jagadeesh & Matthias Beller, 2025. "Synthesis of aromatic amides from lignin and its derivatives," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Umer Zaman, 2023. "Seizing Momentum on Climate Action: Nexus between Net-Zero Commitment Concern, Destination Competitiveness, Influencer Marketing, and Regenerative Tourism Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    14. Carmela De Vivo & Marta Ellena & Vincenzo Capozzi & Giorgio Budillon & Paola Mercogliano, 2022. "Risk assessment framework for Mediterranean airports: a focus on extreme temperatures and precipitations and sea level rise," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 547-566, March.
    15. Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "How digitalization transforms the traditional circular economy to a smart circular economy for achieving SDGs and net zero," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Holly Jean Buck & Wim Carton & Jens Friis Lund & Nils Markusson, 2023. "Why residual emissions matter right now," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 13(4), pages 351-358, April.
    17. Mark Peterson & Bård Tronvoll & Julia Fehrer, 2025. "Theories of sustainability: Re-imagining a marketing-indigenous understanding of sustainability," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 15(1), pages 3-22, June.
    18. Gong, Huiwen & Andersen, Allan Dahl, 2024. "The role of material resources for rapid technology diffusion in net-zero transitions: Insights from EV lithium-ion battery Technological Innovation System in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    19. Liping Zhao & Xincheng Li & Xiangmei Li & Chenyang Ai, 2022. "Dynamic Changes and Regional Differences of Net Carbon Sequestration of Food Crops in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    20. Ahmed Eid & May Salah & Mahmoud Barakat & Matevz Obrecht, 2022. "Airport Sustainability Awareness: A Theoretical Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:113:y:2023:i:c:s0969699723001114. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.