The group has been ranked by the Financial Times as the top performing ‘green’ company within the transport industry

Manchester Airport Group (MAG) has been named as one of the Financial Times Climate Leaders for 2021, ranking at 23 out of 300 of Europe’s leading companies.

Between 2014 and 2019, it was recorded that the operator’s greenhouse gas intensity reduced by 32.7%, making it the top performing company within the transport category. Between these years, the organisation also introduced its decarbonisation strategy at London Stansted.

The airport group believes that its innovations in energy efficiency was the driving force that led to a decrease in carbon emissions. This includes linking lighting, heating and ventilation systems to live flight schedules, so only certain spaces are being heated at a specific time.

Commenting on the achievement, Neil Robinson, MAG’s CSR and airspace change director, said: “It is testament to the hard work of people across MAG, whose commitment to implementing new ways to reduce our climate impacts is the reason we are able to celebrate this achievement today.”

“We hope that by continuing to be ambitious and innovative in our approach to minimising our environmental impact that we will continue to be an industry leader in aviation emissions reduction in the future.”

Mike Wilson, the chair of Manchester Climate Change Partnership, added: “Through its leadership position, MAG’s contribution to the decarbonisation of UK aviation will be particularly important to ensure that the city of Manchester remains at the forefront of leadership in tackling the critical issue of aviation emissions.”

Prior to this achievement, MAG was the first operator in the UK to be certified as carbon natural. Additionally, the organisation is also the founding member of the government’s ‘Jet Zero Council’ which launched last summer.

This scheme allows the aviation sector to shape policies to meet its net zero target by 2050.

In 2020, the group published its five-year CSR strategy, ‘Working together for a brighter future’ plan. This outlines MAG’s intentions to reach its carbon neutral target by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the industry’s goal.

A competition was launched by the organisation to incentivise the decarbonisation of the sector. As a reward, the first airline to conduct a zero-emission commercial flight from one of its airports would receive five years-worth of free landing fees, with a value of more than £1m.