Europe commits to 50 carbon neutral airports by 2030

According to the European Commission, big airports use the daily thermal energy and electricity of a city of 100,000 people. That's why Europe's airport industry has promised to up its number of carbon neutral airports to 50 by 2030.

The continent is a little less than halfway there already, with 20 airports that boast zero net releases of CO2, including Amsterdam and Venice.

Airports Council International representative Augustin de Romanet said in a press release that the plan simply makes dollars and sense:

(I)t is about business continuity. Climate change poses a significant risk to the airport industry — changes in rainfall, temperature variations, sea-level rise, changes in wind patterns — all of these have potentially severe implications for our industry, for the wider air transport sector and for European connectivity.

That perspective is also catching on globally, as 137 airports worldwide — serving 31% of all passenger traffic — have entered into the Airport Carbon Accreditation program to focus on reducing their carbon footprints.

So far, there's only one airport in the world that operates purely on solar and wind power: Galapagos Ecological. Serving a modest 300,000 passengers a year, it's only open during the day and uses high-tech photovoltaic panels and mechanical shutters for maximum efficiency.