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Objectives

In 2018, flights globally produced 895 million tonnes of CO2 (2 – 3% of global emissions), of which airports are a small percentage. To accommodate growth sustainably, airports must cooperatively bundle their individual actions to address environmental concerns.

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OLGA unites 58 relevant stakeholders from industry, technology providers, academics, regulators and associations, supported by a highly qualified Advisory Board. Specific attention has been given to the inclusion of innovative SMEs. They will jointly respond to the Climate Challenge, aligned with the European Green Deal. The ambition is to accelerate and move faster than the EU 2050 Climate Neutrality objective in achieving sustainable airports. OLGA airports are committed to the ACI Europe "Net-Zero 2050" pledge, and the partners support the forthcoming "Destination 2050" roadmap for a net-zero European aviation sector.​

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The OLGA project aims to demonstrate the impact of the environmental innovations and concepts presented at the lighthouse airport and occasionally directly in fellow airports. Such innovations are scalable and generic, laying the foundations for greener airports throughout Europe. Therefore, the project will replicate several innovation activities from the lighthouse airport at fellow airports: Milano Malpensa in Italy, Zagreb in Croatia and Cluj Napoca in Romania.

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The capacity of European airports to embrace technology, new business models and governance will be instrumental to OLGA's success in the project and the exploitation of its results afterwards. OLGA will confirm the lasting impact, public acceptance, scalability and broad applicability to European airports and beyond, including the 21 other airports from ADP Group, which signed the "Airport for Trust" commitment in January 2021.

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Methodology

 

Airports can contribute to balancing environmental and economic performance in four ways:

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  1. Further improve their internal operation as well as foster low carbon construction and decommissioning;

  2. Support the energy transition and sustainable (aviation) fuels for air and ground transport;

  3. Foster new business models for sustainable fuels, recycling and waste, moving towards the circularity;

  4. Reinforce the integration into their local ecosystem and community (environment, social and economy).

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The overall concept of the OLGA project has two action lines:

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  1. The first is actual acceleration of environmental transition of airport operations: reducing CO2 & pollutants' emissions of the airport (cars, airport-specific HDV, buses, shuttles, ground support equipment, aircraft taxiing) through a broad approach, introducing innovative energy vectors (hydrogen, biofuels, biogas, sustainable aviation fuel), reducing noise, optimising biodiversity and land management;

  2. Information and catalysation: making environmental progress visible while engaging the passengers, policymakers and other stakeholders.

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​Expected impacts

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OLGA’s ambition is to deliver significant, multifaceted and enduring contributions to the expected impact of the H2020 work programme. The project will meet the long‐term needs of the consortium partners, its wider stakeholder community, and society at large. These needs are:

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  • Accelerated deployment of sustainable alternative fuels (including advanced biofuels), green hydrogen and electromobility in transport, as well as sustainable energy supply and storage and waste heat recovery in airports;
     

  • Clean energy/fuel production and distribution (particularly green hydrogen and electricity) and increased alternative (bio‐) fuel supply, with re‐fueling and re‐charging capabilities;
     

  • Green airports as multimodal hubs, optimising passenger and freight flows for low emission mobility, in a context of much stricter public health criteria;
     

  • Energy‐efficient and green airport operations and buildings, green and smart logistics, integration with other low-emission transport modes (in particular rail) and promoting effective modal shifts;
     

  • Reduced aviation, waterborne and other transport emissions, as well as improved air quality, biodiversity, contribution to the circular economy and reduction of noise at airports and ports;
     

  • Reduced emissions for cities and urban mobility, as well as improved city integration for airports;
     

  • Clear commitments and contributions to Europe‐wide take-up of technological, non‐technological and socially innovative solutions during and beyond the project are expected, which could be in the form of follow‐up actions, for instance, supported by EU’s Connecting Europe Facility or other funding programmes;
     

  • Significant, direct and immediate contribution to the achievement of the European Green Deal, as well as other EU transport policy objectives (including TEN‐T), while strengthening the competitiveness of the European transport sector.

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