MoCA has recommended all existing brownfield and upcoming greenfield airports to work towards carbon neutrality and net zero, which includes utilising solely green energy
“Most of the airports have been given the target of achieving 100 per cent use of green energy by 2023 and net zero by 2030,” said Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia while briefing the members of Parliament and other senior officials of the ministry on the subject of greening airports during the consultative committee meeting of the ministry of civil aviation.
Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is making serious efforts to turn its airports carbon neutral. Last year at the All India Management Association national convention, Scindia had said, “Two of our airports, Delhi and Kochi, are already carbon-neutral and India will have 92-93 carbon-neutral airports by 2024.”
According to the minister, MoCA has organised knowledge-sharing sessions to standardise the carbon accounting and reporting framework of Indian airports and to raise awareness about mitigating climate change in order to promote sustainable development in the aviation industry and reduce carbon emission at airports.
“The state governments have been advised to ensure carbon emission reduction measures. Furthermore, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority has been advised to take into account the cost associated with green energy use for airports tariff determination," the minister added.
According to Scindia, all current brownfield and forthcoming greenfield airports have been advised by MoCA to move towards carbon neutrality and net zero, which includes using only green energy.
The upcoming Noida International Airport, which is a greenfield airport, will become the first airport in its category in India to reach net zero emissions, setting a new standard for sustainable airport operations.
The ministry has also taken action to promote the use of environmentally friendly aviation fuel.
The flexible use of airspace, the implementation of centralised air traffic flow management, implementation of performance-based navigation, and the implementation of continuous descent operations are only a few of the actions already taken to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The Delhi and Mumbai airports have received the highest level 4+ carbon accreditation from Airports Council International (ACI). The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has already erected solar power plants at a number of airports with a combined capacity of more than 54 MWp as of today.
India’s aviation sector has witnessed massive growth in the last few years with 148 operational airports, two water aerodromes, and nine helicopters.