Decarbonising airports: an examination of UK airports’ net zero targets

In 2021, the international air transport industry committed itself to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Although much attention has focused on addressing in-flight emissions, strategies for decarbonising airports have received less consideration despite the carbon intensity of their operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the existence and content of the net zero strategies of the UK’s 25 largest passenger airports in order to assess their net zero readiness and provide recommendations for future policy and practice. The UK was selected as it was one of the first countries worldwide to write net zero aims into national legislation and set specific targets for airports. The findings indicate that while UK airports are aware of the importance of net zero, they are in the early stages of developing net zero strategies and wide variations in net zero reference and target years and proposed routes to decarbonisation are evident. The research reveals a lack of standardised emissions categorisation and reporting methodologies. Recommendations including creating national best practice guidance for net zero strategies and standardising terminology and reporting mechanisms to help support airport operators in meeting their net zero commitments are proposed by way of a conclusion.