OLGA: Transforming airports with sustainable innovations

With support from the European Union, a team at Paris-Charles de Gaulle is leading a group of European airports in exploring ways to make airports more environmentally friendly.  

Starting in 2021, together with the airports at Milan Malpensa, Zagreb, and Cluj-Napoca, the group became ‘living labs’ to test out the various ways of reducing the environmental impact of airports.  

One of the major issues airports currently face is their high level of fossil-fuel consumption. The team has been looking at alternative power sources used in airport operations. "Any action we can take collectively to reduce our dependency towards fossil energy is certainly most welcome," says Yannael Billard, sustainable development director at Groupe ADP. 

So far, actions to reduce the airport’s carbon footprint include installing photovoltaic panels to power boarding bridges. The ground vehicles used to transport luggage and push the aircraft into taxiing position have also been retrofitted to run on battery power. 

The team is also studying the ways temperature is affected in terminal buildings. This information will help ensure that airport buildings of the future will be able to minimise their energy consumption. 

Even ways to make the concrete used for runways more sustainable are being tested. 

"We are in the process of creating and designing low-carbon-content equipment, materials and infrastructure to reduce the CO₂ content of everything you see in an airport." Yannael Billard, Director of sustainable development, Groupe ADP

Another area being examined is biodiversity. Yannael points out that airports usually occupy a large area of land and that protecting biodiversity benefits both the environment and airport users. 

"When it gets warmer in summer, certainly you would appreciate some shade, some grass and so on, to make the environment you are working in or travelling through kinder for you," Yannael explains. 

He notes that finding ways to ensure that the local flora and fauna are not disrupted by the presence of the airport is also a way to collaborate with local communities. This is important to make sure that flora, fauna, and water are free to move between the airport land and the wider local environment. 

The project is due to finish in 2026, and Yannael believes that the methods tested by the group can be shared as models for building new airports or refurbishing existing ones in the future. As he explains, "Even when the project is officially finished, there will be an implementation phase, and replication and dissemination, and so on. So, it is a long-term story."

MORE INFORMATION

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CORDIS project factsheet: OLGA

OLGA project website