4. Organisational leadership

Providing clear leadership to both the supply chain and industry peers on carbon reduction is an important task for infrastructure industry clients, according to Heathrow Airport head of carbon strategy Matt Prescott.

He believes the lessons being learned at Heathrow can be applied more broadly than just within the aviation sector too. “When we think about airports, the focus tends to go to the emissions associated with aviation but airports are far more complex than that. Airports are more like a city in miniature with all the different systems that connect together,” he said.

Matt explained that there are three main points to Heathrow’s approach to carbon reduction, which can also be applied across the built environment sector. “The first is plan it right, the second is cover it all and the third is align everybody,” he said.

Heathrow’s Matt Prescott discussed the need align the supply chain on carbon targets

These points are central to Heathrow 2.0, which is the organisation’s net zero plan that sets out its targets and ambitions on carbon reduction.

“Some airports have set quite distinct targets and claim they will reach net zero by 2030,” said Matt. “[At Heathrow] in setting our targets, we have separated our in the air scope from our on the ground scope.”

Setting meaningful targets

Heathrow is targeting a 15% carbon reduction by 2030 for emissions in the air against a 2019 peak year baseline and a 45% reduction in on the ground emissions.

Matt said this is key when it comes to planning it right. He explained: “Those targets may look less ambitious that other airports’ plans, but these targets were driven by taking the Climate Change Committee’s sixth carbon budget and applying them to the Heathrow context. Then, largely top down, asking the business to stretch to see if it can achieve some of those significant decarbonisation targets.

“When I say cover it all, we have scoped in emissions from departing flights. When you do that, 95% of our carbon footprint is from flights and that comes under indirect scope 3 emissions [which isn’t included in most airport decarbonisation plans]. If you look at on the ground and add in supply chain emissions together with surface access, that is 99% of our carbon footprint.

“As a result, it is really important for us to focus on indirect scope 3 emissions, which are very difficult to manage.”

Knowledge sharing needed

However, Matt added that reducing embodied carbon and sharing the knowledge on how to do that more widely with the aviation sector and construction industry had potential to have more impact than reducing carbon emissions from flights.

Matt said that major clients must take a leadership position when it comes to sharing knowledge. As an example, he shared insight on Heathrow’s work with a PhD student to look at the use and trial of low carbon concrete opportunities in airfield pavements.

“The opportunity [to reduce embodied carbon] here is huge,” he said. “Airfield pavement standards are pretty stringent, but if we can change the standards for Heathrow and reduce embodied carbon, that is an opportunity not just for Heathrow but for airfield projects globally.”

Engaging the whole supply chain and stakeholders is also key, according to Matt. “You must make sure everyone is aligned with the shared vision [around carbon reduction] because, fundamentally, what we need is the freedom within a framework to be innovative, move forward with projects and overcome the risk issues,” he explains. “At Heathrow we have a very risk adverse airside environment but by aligning everyone within an agreed framework and shared vision, it is possible to accelerate the innovation we want to see and are committed to through Heathrow 2.0.”