Airport trade body ACI Europe has rolled out an updated sustainability framework, launched on 7 October at an environmental seminar in Tashkent. The "Sustainability Strategy for Airports 2.0" covers 2026 to 2030 and replaces a first version published in 2019. It applies to the organisation's 600-plus member airports across 55 countries, from small regional fields to the biggest hubs.
Carbon is still at the heart of it — but no longer the whole story. Director General Olivier Jankovec framed the update around the idea that real sustainability stretches past emissions alone. The framework spans seven areas: cutting carbon, adapting to climate change, limiting local environmental impacts like noise and air quality, reusing resources, protecting nature, improving transport access, and looking after staff and nearby communities.
Airports are nudged to bake these issues into investment decisions rather than treating them as a separate reporting exercise. A four-stage ladder — Comply, Embed, Advance, Pioneer — lets operators start where they are: meeting legal basics first, then weaving sustainability into daily operations, then setting measurable targets, and finally leading change across the sector. A toolkit helps each airport work out where it sits.
The numbers show how far the carbon push has come. Some 328 European airports now have public net zero roadmaps, covering roughly 83% of passenger traffic, and more than 100 aim for net zero by 2030 or earlier. There's a catch travellers should know: these commitments cover only what airports directly control — their fuel use and purchased electricity — not the flights themselves. A "net zero" airport is not an emissions-free flight.
Climate adaptation gets its own section for the first time in real depth: mapping flood, heat and storm risks, checking insurance, and hardening infrastructure against disruption. On the resource side, Eindhoven Airport's plans to reuse terminal materials and collect rainwater for toilets get a mention, while Brussels Airport's journey planner and virtual terminal walkthroughs are flagged as examples of better passenger experience.
Anti-greenwashing guidance runs through the document. Airports are told to separate genuine emissions cuts from offsetting, get independent verification before calling themselves carbon neutral, and tie any sustainability-linked financing to concrete, dated targets.
Why should a holidaymaker care? Because the stuff in this framework lands directly in your trip: better rail and bus links to terminals, clearer public transport information, accessibility programmes that account for non-visible disabilities, and quieter, cleaner airport surroundings. If you've ever wondered whether airport "green" claims mean anything, the push for independent verification and measurable targets is aimed squarely at making them trustworthy.
