Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 Disruption on the Decarbonisation Agenda at Airports: Grounded or Ready for Take-Off?

Peter Hemmings, Michael Mulheron, Richard J. Murphy and Matt Prescott
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Peter Hemmings: Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Michael Mulheron: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Richard J. Murphy: Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Matt Prescott: Carbon Strategy Team, Heathrow Airport Ltd., Hounslow TW6 2GW, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-25

Abstract: COVID-19 has had wide-ranging impacts on organisations with the potential to disrupt efforts to decarbonise their operations. To understand how COVID-19 has affected the climate change mitigation strategies of Airport Operators (AOs), questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Sustainability Managers were undertaken in late 2020 amidst a period of disruption. While all reported that COVID-19 impacted delivery of interventions and projects to mitigate climate change, the majority stated that it would not impact their long-term climate goals, such as Net Zero by 2050. The most popular climate change mitigation interventions AOs intend to deploy between now and 2030 are on-site renewables and Electric Vehicles and related infrastructure. Engineered carbon removal interventions were considered highly unlikely to be deployed in this timeframe, with potential implications for Net Zero decarbonisation pathways. Despite the severe impacts of COVID-19 on the sector, results indicate that AOs remain committed to decarbonisation, with climate change action remaining the key priority for airports. Given ongoing financial and resource constraints, AOs will need to explore new business models and partnerships and nurture collaborative approaches with other aviation stakeholders to not only maintain progress toward Net Zero but “ build back better ”. Government support will also be needed to stimulate the development of a sustainable, resilient, low-carbon aviation system.

Keywords: airport operators; COVID-19; climate change; sustainability; climate change mitigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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