Gatwick recognised by Carbon Trust for ongoing reduction in carbon emissions

Gatwick Airport has been recognised by the Carbon Trust for ongoing reductions in carbon emissions and water use and improving waste management.

Gatwick Airport has attained triple Carbon Trust Standards making it one of only two UK airports to be awarded certifications for reducing carbon emissions and water use, and improving waste management.

Highest percentage reduction in absolute CO₂ emissions in the transportation sector

The Carbon Trust Standard is an independent award recognising an organisation’s practical achievements in improving environmental sustainability. The Carbon Trust has awarded Gatwick three separate certifications for:

Reducing CO₂ year-on-year: According to Gatwick, it has achieved the highest percentage reduction in absolute CO₂ emissions in the transportation sector during the two year certification period. In 2014-15, Gatwick cut absolute CO₂ by 10 percent and CO2 per passenger by 20 percent, compared to 2012-13.

Reducing water year­-on-year: Gatwick achieved a significant reduction in water intensity in 2014-15. The airport has cut water use per passenger by 9.1 percent compared with 2012-13.

Improving waste management: Gatwick increased recycling and reuse rates to 49 percent in 2015, up from 40 percent the previous year, at the same time as increasing energy recovered from waste from 40 percent to 47 percent.

Gatwick cuts water use per passenger by 9.1 percent

Some of the measures put in place by Gatwick to help achieve these standards included:

• Making energy and water-efficient design and engineering a priority in all new and redeveloped buildings, including the major refurbishment of Pier 5 and the North Terminal development
• The replacement of airport lighting with more energy efficient lamps
• A relentless focus on ensuring that all waste is separated for recycling, reuse and for recovering energy-from-waste
• Working closely with all airport partners – from airlines and retailers to ground handlers and construction contractors – to ensure robust environmental standards and goals are met, including by offering financial incentives 

Stewart Wingate, Gatwick CEO, said: “We are delighted to be one of only a handful of UK companies to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard across three categories of environmental sustainability, but for Gatwick this is just the start. 

“Gatwick is already working up a road map detailing how we will become the UK’s leading low carbon airport by 2025.  We are also examining all other aspects of our footprint – from water through to waste – and will soon announce more exciting plans to reduce our total environmental impact even further.

“These awards are deserved recognition for the whole Gatwick team for their hard work to deliver our ambitious sustainability goals.  I would like to congratulate them for their efforts and have full confidence that together we will keep going to become one of the greenest airports in the world.”

Darran Messem, Managing Director, Certification at the Carbon Trust, said: “We would like to congratulate everyone at Gatwick who has played a part in securing these three certifications to the Carbon Trust Standard. These awards recognise real progress being made in reducing an organisation’s environmental impact, taking action on carbon emissions, water use and waste. Gatwick is a large airport and serving millions of passengers a year, which comes with a wide variety of sustainability challenges, so to be able to independently demonstrate continuous improvement year-on-year is no easy task.”

Gatwick Airport has also announced that it will be revealing a major new initiative on waste management at the airport.