The “Augmented” airport can drive the decarbonization path to a net-zero

Airports have an essential role to play in the industry’s transition towards a net-zero aviation

Airports are the place where all aviation stakeholders gather together: passengers, airlines, air traffic controllers, energy suppliers, aircraft manufacturers and other stakeholders from the local region. They hold a central and strategic position in the aviation value chain, which makes them the natural link within the sector enabling traffic and connectivity. As such, they are also a great playing field for the deployment of decarbonization solutions for the aviation industry. Therefore, they are a unique platform able to drive the path to net-zero aviation and foster the adoption of a systemic approach to climate change.

As an investor, it is also one of Ardian’s duties to lay the groundwork for a solid ecosystem of stakeholders and to boost collaboration to make the decarbonization of aviation a system-wide reality.

To do so, airports must focus on their scope 3 emissions which are the carbon emissions indirectly generated according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards, given that 95% of airports’ carbon footprint comes from those. This figure notably encompasses aircraft movements that are estimated to contribute to 99% of the emission of the sector. That is why airports can have such a structuring impact on the whole sector by addressing their scope 3 emissions that remain the key bottleneck to the decarbonization of the sector.

To drive the industry decarbonization, airports have to accelerate their transition into “augmented” ones

Relying on a long-standing approach to sustainability, Ardian put forward its Augmented Infrastructure framework in 2018 to guide the transition of its assets from traditional infrastructures to augmented ones. Based on five strategic pillars, the framework enables new value creation for infrastructure which, applied to airports, particularly resonates with the urgent need to decarbonize aviation activities. “Augmented” airports are infrastructures fully prepared to serve the needs of users tomorrow as well as the collective imperative to reach net-zero.

Intelligent: Augmented airports exploit the full power of data to create efficiency gains, improve customer satisfaction and reduce their carbon emissions. They break down silos, which enables the sharing of an extensive amount of data between all players at the airport and the opportunity to convert them into actions.

To tackle this technical issue, Ardian has co-developed Ardian Air Carbon with airports, a pioneering tool dedicated to monitoring airports’ scope 3 CO2 emissions. All airports in Ardian’s portfolio are now equipped with it and are able to build decarbonization trajectories to decrease their carbon emissions.

Impactful: Augmented airports must have a direct impact on emissions, both locally and globally, given their unique position in the aviation ecosystem, and their strong territorial anchor. Market mechanisms can be a powerful way to accelerate the sustainable transition of a given industry.

They can leverage competition like SEA’s (Milan airports) initiative to incentivize cleaner aircraft based on their carbon emissions as well as noise performance. Its “airport green charges” framework for transparent, non-discriminatory criteria to incentive low-carbon operations is currently under validation.

To reach a net-zero aviation, ecosystem stakeholders will need to act collectively, and start diversifying their activities. Through their strategic position at the core of the aviation value chain, airports have the power and the duty to drive the sector's transition.