ENAV SpA’s 5th Sustainability Day The ENAV Group is Carbon Neutral

ENAV SpA, the company that manages civil air traffic in Italy, is the first Air Navigation Service Provider in the world to achieve carbon neutrality, thanks to the reduction of the direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2) emissions generated by the company's activities.

The announcement was made by ENAV Group’s CEO, Pasqualino Monti, during the company's fifth Sustainability Day, which was attended by numerous guests from the institutional and industrial world.

"Ensuring sustainability means also making a tangible economic contribution to the community to which, in just one year, thanks to ENAV's actions, we have returned more than 1 billion euros. Being 'carbon neutral' for our company is merely an intermediate step. We are determined to continue along this path, also supporting our stakeholders in achieving the industry's decarbonisation goals.This year, from January to October, for example, thanks to the optimisation of routes, we have reduced fuel costs for the airlines by 60 million kg. These are the words of ENAV's CEO, Pasqualino Monti.

During the event, the results of the True Value study were presented, showing that all actions introduced by the ENAV Group, including those aimed at reducing emissions, generated a positive impact on the community of more than 1 billion euros in just one year.

For example, in 2022, ENAV's route optimisation activities  avoided a cost to the community of 41 million euros.In fact, thanks to the implementation of the Free Route project, airlines flying in Italy have travelled more than 16 million fewer kilometres, generating benefits in terms of lower fuel consumption of 65.3 million kg and a consequent reduction in emissions of 206 million kg of CO₂e.

From 2017, the first year of the Free Route, to the end of October 2023, the figures show a saving of almost 84 million km or around 330 million kg of fuel, resulting in emission reductions of over 1 billion kg of CO₂e.

As far as ENAV's direct and indirect emissions abatement is concerned, the Group's strategy, in line with the Net Zero 2050 climate targets, had already been validated in November 2021 by the Science Based Target Initiative, an international initiative created to support companies in setting and achieving greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

The achievement of carbon neutrality is the result of a series of actions that have enabled the company, compared to the 2019 baseline, to achieve an emissions reduction of more than 80%:

• conversion of power purchase agreements, today approximately 90% of the electricity purchased by the Group comes from renewable sources;
• energy efficiency of assets, such as automated LED lighting systems, modernisation of air conditioning systems, etc.;
• installation of plants for the production of electricity from renewable sources (mainly photovoltaic plants but also wind and geothermal);
• replacement of the company car fleet with electric/hybrid/plug-in vehicles.

The remaining share of emissions, the part that cannot yet be reduced, was offset through carbon credits to finance the following programmes in India and Mozambique for environmental protection and certified by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS):

• Renewable energy hydro India, construction of a 300 MW run-of-river hydroelectric power plant, which will supply renewable energy to local communities in Kuppa, Kinnaur District Himachal Pradesh;
• Efficiency improved cookstoves: replacement of traditional, highly polluting stoves for 1,800 families in the city of Maputo, Mozambique.

The fifth edition of the ENAV Group's Sustainability Day was also attended by the Chairman of ENAC, Pierluigi Di Palma, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma Marco Troncone, CEO of ANAS Aldo Isi and the Chairman of Airbus Italia, Serafino D'Angelantonio, who debated at a round table entitled: Strategies for the future of sustainable mobility.