Lok Sabha Question No. 466 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-28
Subject: Carbon Neutrality at Airports
Ministry: CIVIL AVIATION
Asked by: Shri Tharaniventhan M S, Shri Malaiyarasan D

## 466.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. : 466 (To be answered on the 28 th  November 2024)

## CARBON NEUTRALITY AT AIRPORTS

SHRI THARANIVENTHAN M S SHRI MALAIYARASAN D

Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

be pleased to state:-

- (a) the steps being taken by the Government to achieve carbon neutrality at airports across  the country including Tamil Nadu;
- (b) the initiatives and technologies being implemented to reduce carbon
- emissions in airport operations;
- (c) the number of airports that have achieved or are working towards carbon-
- neutral status;
- (d) the timeline set for achieving carbon neutrality at major airports in the
- country; and
- (e) whether there are any incentives or partnerships to encourage private players to adopt sustainable practices at airports and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION

(Shri Murlidhar Mohol)

- (a) to (e): Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has advised all the operational airports with scheduled operations and developers of the upcoming Greenfield Airports to work towards achieving Carbon Neutrality & Net Zero which inter-alia includes use of green energy.

MoCA has taken initiatives for working towards Carbon neutrality at airports  in  the  country  and  organised  knowledge  sharing  sessions  to standardise Carbon Accounting and Reporting framework of Indian Airports as well as to create awareness on Climate Change mitigation. Further, airport operators with scheduled operations have been advised to map the carbon emission at their respective airports and to work towards carbon neutrality & net zero emissions in a phased manner.

The airport operators including Airports Authority of India (AAI) have installed solar power plants at various locations/Airports for generation and self-consumption of green and renewable energy to encourage green energy usage at the airports. In addition, few airports are also procuring green energy through open access. Other initiatives include adoption of building design as per Green building Standards, conversion of conventional vehicles to electric vehicles, energy efficient Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning

(HVAC), lighting and baggage handling systems etc., Optimum use of national airspace by fully implementing the concept of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) has also been suggested by Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision. This has led to cumulative savings of approximately Rs. 868.1 crore by all reporting airlines by way of significant savings in flight time & fuel usage and also cumulative reduction of more than 188538.5 tonnes in CO2 Emission since 01 Aug 2020. Since 2014, a total of 80 airports have switched over to 100% green energy usage including Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai and Tuticorin airports in the state of Tamil Nadu. Airports viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have achieved Level 4+ and higher Airports International Council (ACI) accreditation and have become Carbon neutral. Airports  Economic  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (AERA)  takes  into consideration the Capital expenditure relating to Green Energy Projects, Carbon Neutrality etc. during the Tariff determination process of Major Airports.

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