The Net-Zero Challenge for Airports
The air travel industry faces a major challenge: decarbonizing all of its operations. To meet the challenge of a new, more sustainable airport model, while preserving the ability of airports to link the entire world, Groupe ADP has embarked on a clear path towards decarbonization, based on “net-zero emissions” targets as certified by the independent body SBTI1 in October 2024, along with concrete action plans.
An ambitious path to net-zero emissions
Reducing carbon emissions is a major challenge that Groupe ADP intends to address with every industry stakeholder. Over the past several years, the company has been developing an active policy to reduce its environmental impact, alongside our stakeholders, with the aim of aligning our decarbonization objectives with the 1.5°C temperature rise established in the Paris Agreements as the target to meet.
Although the entire aviation industry pledged a commitment to carbon neutrality in global air transport by 2050 at the 41st Session of the ICAO Assembly, Groupe ADP has accelerated our climate commitment and set ourselves an ambitious and clear path.
The company’s action plans aim first to address internal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to direct airport operations (Scopes 1 and 2; see Note 1), by reducing energy consumption, creating more ecofriendly vehicle fleets and producing and using low-carbon or zero-carbon energy sources.
For external emissions (Scope 3, see Note 2) related to activities by airport stakeholders, the Group is pledging to provide access to equipment for electrifying ground operations, deploy new energies for both airplanes and ground transportation and prepare for the arrival of hydrogen-powered jets.
Decarbonization targets, validated by SBTi
In October 2024, Groupe ADP's decarbonization targets and 2050 objective (net-zero emissions across the value chain) were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (see Note 3). This validation confirms that the Group’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are consistent with achieving the goals in the Paris Agreement.
"This validation of our objectives marked an important step for Groupe ADP in fulfilling our 2025 Pioneers roadmap. All of our teams are committed to decarbonizing our activities and to working toward that end with all the stakeholders at our airport facilities. We have an enormous responsibility to achieve the objectives of decarbonizing aviation by transforming our airports into energy hubs, capable of distributing low-carbon energy for the needs of the airport's users, airlines and neighboring regions."
In the Paris region, Groupe ADP needs to achieve carbon neutrality for its direct emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 2024 for Paris-Orly, by 2027 for Paris-Le Bourget and by 2030 for Paris-Charles de Gaulle. For those three Paris-area airports, that corresponds to a gradual reduction in direct emissions: a 68% reduction by 2030 and a 90% reduction by 2035 versus the baseline 2019 levels. The net-zero decarbonization targets, certified by the SBTi, also entail a 27.5% reduction in indirect emissions by our stakeholders by 2030 and a 90% reduction by 2050.
With regard to our international airports, the Group is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030 for all our airports, and net-zero emissions by no later than 2050 for 10 airports.
For every site, the 2025 Pioneers roadmap includes a total of 15 transformation commitments as well as regular updates on each airport’s progress so as to manage the Group’s overall path to decarbonization.
Tangible actions deployed at all Groupe ADP airports
Groupe ADP has identified heating, lighting and air conditioning as the priority means of reducing the impact of our main sources of direct emissions (Scopes 1 and 2), and accordingly we have defined some primary levers for achieving our decarbonization objectives.
In order to transform our energy mix and increase the share of renewable energies, the Group is investing in photovoltaics, a strategic opportunity for all our facilities. In addition, while a geothermal system already existed at Paris-Orly, the system was enhanced with a heat pump in late 2024. Geothermal energy is also arriving at Paris-Le Bourget airport, through ongoing efforts to connect the site to the Dugny-Le Bourget geothermal heat network. By 2030 the entire airport will have the benefit of this carbon-free heat.
Also in Paris-Charles de Gaulle, a deep geothermal installation is underway for delivery in 2026; it will meet 35% of the airport's heating needs.
By expanding solar energy at our properties in Paris, in addition to our existing long-term contracts for the purchase of solar power, Groupe ADP aims to cover 30% of the electricity needs at our three Paris-area airports by 2030 with this carbon-free energy. Up to 200 hectares could be mobilized to expand solar photovoltaic power. Solar shade structures on parking lots will be developed first, followed by ground-level power stations on airport fields and agricultural areas, along with rooftop solar facilities on future buildings.
Similar actions are being carried out at many international airports. For example, TAV Airports has plans to develop solar photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 30.6 MW at its sites in Ankara, Izmir, Alanya-Gazipasa, Milas-Bodrum, Enfidha and Antalya. Jordan’s Amman Airport is aiming to meet 24.5% of its supply needs with the commissioning of a new 4.8-MW solar photovoltaic plant. An expansion is planned to reach an installed capacity of 10 MW by 2040 with the aim of achieving net-zero emissions.
The expanded use of solar photovoltaics will also make it possible to secure and decarbonize the energy supply for the production of hydrogen or sustainable synthetic fuels, which will benefit our value chain. All of these initiatives are enabling us to design a new, responsible and sustainable airport model.
LanzaJet: Supporting the development of sustainable aviation fuels
Groupe ADP is gradually transforming our airports into energy hubs, capable of offering electric power, sustainable aviation fuels and low-carbon hydrogen. In 2024, Groupe ADP announced an investment in LanzaJet, a U.S. producer of sustainable aviation fuel, which has a large-scale, deployable technology: ethanol-to-fuel processing.
(1) Internal emissions: infrastructure heating and electricity, operation of our vehicles, etc.
(2) External emissions: ground emissions (access and ground operations), aircraft emissions (take-off, landing and complete flight path), and purchases of goods and services.
(3) The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is an independent body that assesses the consistency of ambitious corporate GHG emission reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreements, in accordance with the most recent scientific data on climate.