Flying Towards a Greener Future: An Update on our Sustainability Strategy

Recently we published an update to our 5-Year Transition plan, which sets out our path towards being a carbon negative business. Our aim is to be net zero by 2035 and carbon negative by 2040, and to work with our customers, partners and suppliers to achieve a net zero aviation industry by 2050.

We launched our first Transition Plan in 2023, setting out our response to the climate emergency and how our business will adapt as we move towards a low carbon economy. The plan outlined our high-level climate targets, near term milestones and how we manage climate related risks and opportunities. This year, we have updated the plan to demonstrate the progress we have made so far while also adding more actionable steps to support our route to decarbonisation for the years ahead.

Significant effort has gone into exploring how we can reduce our impacts on the ground and support customers in reducing their impacts in the air, driving continuous improvement and our ambition forward, but there’s still much more to do…

Progress on the ground

• In 2024, we procured 99.5% of our electricity from green electricity and 96% of our gas procurement was from low carbon biogas, both backed by renewable guarantees
• The first of three large scale solar schemes (2,600 panels) went live on the roof of our Swanwick air traffic control centre and will be followed by a similar scheme at our Prestwick centre in 2025. By the end of 2025, installations across roof, ground and adjoining land will generate up to 18% of the centres’ energy
• We installed 100 new EV charging points at our main sites and removed single use cups and plastics from our three largest centres
• We’ve met our overall annual emissions reduction targets to-date, in line with a trajectory to keep us aligned with the 1.5° Paris Agreement
• We trialled carbon budgets, developed a carbon removals strategy and worked with our suppliers to explore various opportunities to embed sustainability within our supply chain
• We set ourselves stretching targets to reduce our broader environmental impacts too, delivering a rolling programme of employee engagement and supporting sustainable travel with a range of bike, public transport and ultra-low emissions car schemes

Progress in the air

• Pairwise was deployed at Heathrow in December 2024 and Time Based Separation (TBS) was implemented at Gatwick in March 2025. These projects aim to deliver up to 70kt CO₂ savings per year once fully embedded
• In oceanic airspace, the introduction of ‘Sustainability Tracks’ has been tested in collaboration with partners NAV CANADA, FAA, IATA, airline customers and industry experts. This follows more than a decade of continuous improvement, including the introduction of reduced separation standards, improved air traffic surveillance, communications tools, and route-free airspace, which have each supported aircraft in flying closer to their preferred fuel-efficient trajectories as they transit the North Atlantic Ocean
• A number of airspace changes were deployed in 2024/25, including several Operational Service Enhancements Project (OSEP) deployments which enable significant CO₂ reductions and fuel saving benefits to our airline customers

Our focus in 2025…

Airspace Modernisation

Modernising and improving the design of UK airspace continues to be the single most effective way we can reduce aircraft CO₂ emissions.

Work continues on the redesign of London, Scottish and Manchester airspace. Scottish and Manchester airspace has now been tested through flight simulations and both are working towards final designs. London will involve four deployments, the first of which estimates a potential saving of up 20kt CO₂e per year, with an overall estimation of just under 70kt for the completion of the whole portfolio of deliverables.

A number of smaller scale airspace changes are planned in 2025/26, including the introduction of further night-time fuel savings routes, changes to lift vertical airspace restrictions and deliver direct routeings, with the aim of saving up to 5kt CO₂e.

Aviation decarbonisation research

We continue to be a key contributor to two projects under the European research programme SESAR 3, exploring the impact and mitigation techniques on the non-CO₂ effects of aviation and the potential for emissions reductions from formation flight.

Airline collaboration

We will continue sharing our airspace efficiency data with our airline customers to identify and deliver emissions savings and continue to enhance collaboration on airspace design as well as identifying opportunities to deliver flight profiles closer to optimum within the current network design of airspace.

First net zero centre

Our plans to replace Atlantic House in Prestwick have developed this year as part of a bigger project to make Prestwick Centre the first net zero air traffic control centre in the world. To achieve this aim we are exploring various ways to reduce our scope 1 emissions, including the feasibility of using alternatives to gas boilers, which currently heat our buildings and hot water.

Targets

For 2025/26 we will conduct a complete Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions inventory and develop updates to our near-term science-based targets; and set a long-term science-based target, via our governance groups and Board.

Business travel

In 2025/26, we plan to incorporate updated carbon information into our company wide business travel policies to help employees make responsible travel decisions.

Environmental metrics

As we move towards NR28 (our next regulatory control period, from 2028 to 2033), we have been reviewing our airspace performance metrics and their effectiveness at incentivising efficiency improvements. Our 3Di metric, in use since 2012, has been industry leading, however we have identified areas it could be improved and developed.

We will be working on this, conducting incremental programmes to test and refine concepts through 2025 and beyond, engaging with our customers and regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority.

Read the full report here.