Gatwick’s expansion should go ahead, but in the process, let’s take the chance to make it a green airport pioneer.
The economic argument for a second runway is clear and it’s great news for jobs and growth across the South East, something that we here at Opergy support. However, more runways means more flights which means more emissions. That’s a reality we cannot ignore.
So, why not make this new runway subject to binding, measurable environmental obligations which push the emissions curve down for aircraft, ground operations and passenger travel?
Why can’t Gatwick become a testbed for next-generation airport decarbonisation and set a new global benchmark for how economic growth and environmental ambition can work together?
So, how can we do it?
Go beyond the UK SAF mandate every year
The UK’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate stands at 2% for 2025, 10% for 2030 and 22% for 2040. Gatwick should be contractually required to go at least 1-3 percentage points higher than this every year. For example, in 2028, Gatwick could be obliged to go 2 percentage points higher.
Progress could be monitored through enforced transparent annual reporting and penalties for non-compliance, together with airline slot incentives and a procurement club, helping to ramp up SAF supply.
Not only would this have a positive impact for Gatwick, but for aviation in general, helping push airlines and suppliers to cleaner fuels faster.
Permit, don’t just pledge, zero emission ground operations by 2030
Gatwick is already pledging to have all airside and duty vehicles be ultra-low emissions vehicles or zero emission by 2030. Let’s go beyond ambition and turn that it into an actual legally binding permit condition.
This could require a 100% conversion of airside ground support equipment such as tugs, belt loaders, catering and baggage caddies, as well as landslide fleets to battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cells by 2030. Interim milestones can ensure that we keep chipping away at this, with vehicle telemetry reporting to the relevant regulator made mandatory.
This is something already being done too – the Port of Felixstowe, for example, is already deploying battery-electric autonomous yard trucks at scale.
Be hydrogen-ready from the beginning
Gatwick is already very much part of Airbus’ Hydrogen Hub programme alongside easyJet and Air Products, but this is an area where we could still go further and lock hydrogen-readiness into the Development Consent Order.
This could mean designing for liquid hydrogen storage and airside pipeline corridors, establishing safety cases and hydrogen ground-support equipment trials by 2027 to 2028 and publishing a clear plan to service early hydrogen aircraft from 2035.
Hydrogen in aviation is already a hotbed of activity and a crucial pathway to long-term zero-emission flight – having one of the UK’s major airports lead from the front could be massive in that journey.
100% renewable power with resilience
Renewable power should be mandated for terminals, piers, aprons and MRO facilities through power purchase agreements and on-site solar PV and battery storage.
A grid-impact and curtailment strategy should be included as part of this, ensuring emissions are not then just shifted elsewhere, with annual third-party assurance required against a recognised sustainability standard.
Gatwick itself already has a plan to reach net zero for scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, so this seems a perfect step to ensure credible delivery.
Shift mode share or cap car trips
Surface transport is a major emissions source and the government has already pressed for there to be a 54% public-transport mode share as a condition for the new runway, climbing from 44-47%.
As this is outside of its control, it has also proposed an alternative cars-on-the-road limit to be met to address concerns around possible road congestion. If neither were then met, use of the runway would be delayed until road improvements are completed.
So, what could all of this look like in practice? Full reinstatement of Gatwick Express frequency should be required, along with bus and coach enhancements before operations commence on the new runway. Quarterly mode-share data should be published too.
Simply charging passengers even higher parking fees as a way of deterring them is not the way this scheme should go, instead there should be efforts to genuinely change how passengers move and the nature of freight logistics.
A whole-life carbon budget
Finally, a whole-life carbon budget must be set for the programme, with reductions verified against a baseline.
We should specify that low carbon materials need to be used, while contractor payments could be tied to verified performance to make this happen.
Furthermore, mandate biodiversity net gain, robust noise and air quality limits, and stronger insulation funds for affected communities.
This ensures decarbonisation begins long before that first flight takes off.
Time to fly
So yes, approve the second runway – the economic upside cannot be ignored, but it can also not come at the expense of the environment.
But it does not have to.
Getting this right can prove infrastructure can grow while emissions fall, setting a new standard for airports across the UK and around the world, driving us forward on our journey to a cleaner future.
