This is Mission Possible: How Heathrow is achieving a sustainable future for mobility

This series is part of Mission Possible, edie’s new campaign for 2018 which seeks to empower and inspire sustainability, energy and resource efficiency professionals to achieve a sustainable future for their business.

The five-part video series will hear from a selection of sustainability leaders from some of the UK’s biggest businesses. Each leader will discuss how they and their team are taking bold actions in one of the five Mission Possible campaign pillars: Energy, Resources, The Built Environment, Mobility, and Business Leadership.

In the above video – which was filmed just before Heathrow released its latest sustainable business update – Gorman discusses how Heathrow is demonstrating industry leadership in driving sustainability for mobility.

MISSION POSSIBLE: Five ways Heathrow is achieving a sustainable future for mobility

1) The Airport is committed to carbon-neutral expansion. As the first airport in the world to simultaneously hold four certifications from the Carbon Trust Standard, Heathrow is planning for carbon-neutral expansion through its Heathrow 2.0 strategy. Under this strategy, the Airport plans to offset an inevitable increase in emissions through the restoration of peatlands in the UK, alongside other carbon-offsetting schemes it is currently researching.

2) It is enabling a shift to electric ground vehicles. The airport now operates an Ultra-Low Emission Zone on the ground of its site. Over the past year, it has installed more than 135 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and, in June 2017, the Airport launched a new incentivisation programme allowing more than 6,000 of its direct employees to acquire a low-emission car of their choice. Heathrow has also committed to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative to boost the use of EVs in its fleet.

3) It is incentivising low-carbon air travel. Earlier this year, Heathrow increased its environmental charges for aircrafts by 7%, as part of a move to incentivise airlines to deploy cleaner and newer aircrafts. The Airport monitors ‘reduced-engine taxiing’ and incentivises airlines to reduce emissions and noise in their operations through a public ranking system. Heathrow has also set up a Centre of Excellence to facilitate the research and development of solutions to the carbon-neutrality challenge.

4) The Airport is focusing on onsite energy generation through renewables. Heathrow is a member of The Climate Group’s RE100 renewable energy programme and currently generates 100% of its electricity needs from renewable sources. An onsite solar array is capable of generating 37MW of energy a year, while the installation of 10,000 LED light bulbs across the airport has helped reduce energy consumption.

5) It is willing to collaborate for the greater good. Alongside its membership to the RE100 and EV 100 programmes – both of which encourage firms to share best practice – the Airport has developed a sustainability partnership with the other 300 companies which have employees on its site, facilitating communication between managing directors and chief executives to ensure a collective approach to sustainable growth.

The Matthew Gorman video interview can be viewed on YouTube here. And all of the video interviews within this Mission Possible series will appear here. 

Last month, edie hosted a live, interactive webinar featuring the Airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye to discuss how the business has progressed on its mission to lead the industry on sustainable growth. Holland-Kaye used the webinar to announce that airport will recycle all disposable coffee cups that are sold and discarded onsite by the end of the year. You can view the webinar on demand here.

Achieve YOUR Mission Possible at edie Live 2018

edie’s Mission Possible campaign will be brought to life on the Sustainability Keynote stage at edie Live 2018. Taking place on 22-23 May 2018 at the NEC Birmingham, visitors will be inspired by thought-leaders, coached by industry experts, encouraged to collaborate with your peers, and shown the way by hundreds of innovative suppliers and solutions providers.

Find out more about the show and register for your free pass here.

Luke Nicholls & Sarah George