Examination of Witnesses

Part of Civil Aviation Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:30 am on 21 February 2012.

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Matt Gorman: The general point I would make is that there are a number of drivers for airports of any size to tackle environmental issues. I pull out three in particular. The first is that there is a significant body of environmental regulation that airports need to respond to, covering the issues we have talked about—noise, carbon emissions, air quality, and waste and water issues. There is a lot that an airport of any size will need to do.

The second driver is a commercial one: there is a good opportunity to save money through lots of environmental initiatives, particularly energy-saving, water-saving and waste initiatives. The third driver is stakeholder expectations; by “stakeholder” I mean local communities and politicians more broadly. Particularly for any airport that is seeking to develop, a strong environmental programme will be an important part of earning the licence to develop.

I am not really well placed to comment on the specifics of market dominance in relation to the environment. I simply make the point that there is a strong case for an airport of any size to conduct an appropriate environmental programme.