London City Airport checks annual progress with 2022 Sustainability Report

LCY's Sustainability Report. CREDIT: LONDON CITY AIRPORT

London City Airport (LCY) published its 2022 Sustainability Report on 16 June 2023, which updates the airport’s progress one year on from publishing ‘Above and Beyond: our Roadmap to a Sustainable Future.’ A quarter of the Action Plan commitments have been completed with over a third progressing as planned.

Critically, the report shows under LCY’s first sustainability pillar ‘Decarbonising our Airport’ that has made good progress in recent years, reducing carbon emissions for which it is directly responsible for (Scopes 1 and 2), and continuing to maintain LCY’s reduction in emissions in 2022, despite a significant increase in passenger numbers (which increased from 714,000 passengers in 2021 to three million in 2022).

In 2022, LCY became one of only two UK airports to achieve Level 4+ in the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, placing it at the forefront of positive climate adaptation in the aviation sector.

New data found that 68% of passengers accessed the airport by public and sustainable transport – the highest percentage of any UK airport. LCY continues to work closely with partners to enhance train and bus connections to the airport, including the new Elizabeth Line, as well as improvements to the DLR, such as the introduction of new carriages on services to the airport by 2024. The airport has also supported a car-sharing scheme for staff and rolled out EV chargers for use by passengers, staff and taxis in 2022.

Permitted Liquids for flights from London City Airport. CREDIT: LONDON CITY AIRPORT

In addition, the airport has been working closely with airlines and manufacturers to certify cleaner, quieter, new-generation aircraft, including the Embraer E195-E2. The Embraer E195-E2 offers improved fuel, noise and emissions performance, benefitting airlines, passengers and the local community. This aircraft has undertaken trial flights at the airport and is expected to enter commercial operations later this year.

LCY continues to collaborate with industry partners on research to achieve zero emissions, including projects such as Project NAPKIN (New Aviation Propulsion Knowledge and Innovation Network), which has shown that London City Airport can develop the zero emissions flying market at a meaningful scale in the next decade. This work has led to more collaboration on hydrogen pipeline projects and analysis into the delivery of SAF with organisations, such as the Thames Estuary Growth Board.

2022 initiatives under LCY’s second sustainability pillar ‘Improving our Environment’ include launching a new £50,000 biodiversity fund to support local biodiversity projects. Most notably, LCY continues to take important steps to reduce waste and single-use plastics and has now eliminated single-use plastic liquids bags for security, thanks to the installation of new hi-tech CT security scanners. This means passengers can now leave liquids and laptops in their bags at London City Airport.

The airport made significant progress on its third sustainability pillar ‘Helping East London Grow and Prosper’ with a new staff volunteering policy that will see all staff volunteer in the local community for a minimum of eight hours a year, increasing to two days in 2024 and continuing LCY’s youth mentoring programme.

LCY also reinstated its local procurement and education programmes, such as its East London Meet the Buyer event, which resulted in £5.1 million in contract value wins for local businesses. Additionally, the airport spent over £7m with more than 80 local business in 2022. LCY also saw over 700 hundred students from 24 East London schools work with aviation businesses, such as Boeing, GKN Aerospace and British Airways CityFlyer, as part of  our STEM in Aviation and Women in Aviation programmes. 

These initiatives are critical in supporting future business, investment and jobs in LCY’s local community. In 2022, 39% of new airport recruits for London City Airport and on-site partners lived in Newham and 79% in the Local Area. 

London City Airport Chief Executive Officer, Robert Sinclair, said: “A year on from the launch of our Sustainability Roadmap, I am pleased with the progress we have made the past year across all three of our sustainability pillars.”

“I am especially delighted that LCY has shown that, while passenger numbers increased, our overall direct emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) did not, which is an important milestone that we look forward to building on.”

“The journey to achieve net zero emissions will take time and we face similar complex, challenges as other industries around the world, including developing our future energy strategy to power our buildings and how we provide infrastructure to support our airlines with the right fuels they will need over the next decade.”