How can airports reduce their environmental impact?
Measuring impact, reducing carbon footprint, and preserving biodiversity
PROAVIA members support airports worldwide in measuring environmental impact, cutting carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, preserving biodiversity, and embedding long-term sustainability into daily operations.
Achieving airport decarbonization requires a holistic approach across energy networks, green ground support equipment (GSE), terminal energy performance, air quality management, and waste reduction—without compromising operational continuity.
A pioneer in French eco-airport innovation, PROAVIA launched the flagship directory French Technologies for Sustainable Airports in 2017 and expanded it alongside the PEXE cleantech network to showcase over 100 specialized solution providers.
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES
What are the main sustainability challenges for airports?
Achieving net-zero targets and ecological transition across the entire airport ecosystem.
- Carbon Management: Building credible carbon-management plans across direct (Scope 1 & 2) and indirect (Scope 3) emissions.
- Energy Efficiency: Reducing energy consumption while improving system resilience and operational continuity.
- Emissions Transparency: Measuring aircraft, APU and ground-operation emissions accurately and transparently.
- Green Infrastructure: Designing climate-responsive terminals and sustainable airport infrastructure.
- Low-Carbon Equipment: Reducing the embodied and operational carbon of technical airport equipment.
- Circular Economy: Extending asset life and developing robust reuse and circular-economy models.
- Environmental Protection: Managing air quality, noise, wildlife hazards and local biodiversity.
- Engineering Execution: Turning ambitious environmental targets into funded, measurable engineering projects.
EXPERT SOLUTIONS
How do PROAVIA members address these challenges?
Comprehensive technical expertise and field-proven technologies from French airport industry leaders.
Carbon management & environmental strategy
PROAVIA members support carbon inventories, Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA), Scope 3 mapping, decarbonisation roadmaps, environmental reporting, air-quality assessment and noise management.
Energy resilience & digital energy management
Members design and integrate microgrids, renewable-energy systems, battery storage, building-management platforms and operational supervision to reduce consumption and maintain continuity during power disruptions.
Sustainable architecture & resilient infrastructure
Architects and engineers develop climate-responsive terminals, low-energy buildings, resilient masterplans and infrastructure-modernisation strategies adapted to airport operations and local environmental conditions.
Emissions intelligence & operational change
Monitoring technologies measure APU and engine activity, attribute pollutants by flight and provide real-time alerts and dashboards that help airports, airlines and handlers reduce unnecessary operating time.
Lifecycle assessment, biodiversity & circular economy
PROAVIA expertise covers lifecycle carbon assessment for baggage systems, airport-equipment reuse, asset-life extension, wildlife-risk management and biodiversity engineering.
Frequently asked questions
What makes an airport sustainability project credible?
A credible project combines a documented baseline, defined operational scope, measurable objectives, implementation responsibility and transparent monitoring of results.
How does PROAVIA support sustainable airports?
PROAVIA identifies and promotes member expertise, facilitates dialogue with airport stakeholders and disseminates practical solutions and project results through directories, conferences, use cases and collaborative initiatives such as OLGA.
EUROPEAN INNOVATION & DECARBONIZATION
PROAVIA & the OLGA Holistic Green Airport Project
OLGA is a European Horizon 2020 project coordinated by Groupe ADP. Paris Charles de Gaulle acts as the leading demonstration airport, with Milan Malpensa, Zagreb, and Cluj supporting replication across lower-emission ground operations, energy efficiency, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), biodiversity, and low-carbon mobility.
Within the OLGA ecosystem, PROAVIA contributes to solution dissemination and stakeholder dialogue. Notably, PROAVIA organized a technical seminar at the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) headquarters, bringing together experts around hydrogen integration, airport connectivity, and reduced APU usage.
The 2026 PROAVIA Catalogue highlights key OLGA innovations at Paris Charles de Gaulle, including smart lighting, energy-efficient passenger bridges, solar power, equipment reuse, GSE electrification, APU substitution, SAF deployment, reduced taxiing time, air-quality studies, and biodiversity initiatives.
Discover the OLGA project and its airport innovations | Read about PROAVIA's OLGA technical seminar