London Gatwick has partnered with specialist renewable energy provider Vital Energi to advance its ambitious £250m decarbonisation programme, which will see the airport switch to zero carbon heating and improve energy efficiency. 

The project will work to help London Gatwick achieve net zero for its own emissions by 2030. The airport will eliminate natural gas reliance and generate its own energy, boosting energy resilience.

Vital Energi will support London Gatwick in a five-year contract that will see heat decarbonised in around 50 airport buildings, including the North and South terminals, engineering facilities and office space. 

Energy specialists Vital Energi, known for delivering innovative decarbonisation solutions at scale, will spearhead the transformation. They will support improving energy efficiency in buildings, deliver zero carbon heat solutions such as heat pumps and heat infrastructure across the airport.

Cedric Laurier (pictured above), Chief Technical Officer, London Gatwick said: “The whole aviation sector must work together to decarbonise our industry by 2050.  At London Gatwick, we are playing our part by committing to decarbonising greenhouse gas emissions under the airport’s control by 2030.  

Our vision is to be the airport for everyone, whatever your journey, and as we continue to grow, we must do it sustainably. Our work with Vital Energi will play a critical role in this and will mean we are the first major UK airport to generate heat on site.”

Mike Cooke, Managing Director, Vital Energi said: “Vital Energi is proud to partner with London Gatwick on this landmark decarbonisation programme and we commend its bold approach to decarbonisation and resilience. 

Our comprehensive expertise in renewable technologies and in-house team of over 100 design engineers will support the airport to achieve its ambitious target of net zero by 2030 by removing gas from across the whole site and installing heat pumps and other decarbonisation measures.

In every Vital Energi project, we build in operational resilience, ensuring there is always a backup to maintain functional continuity.”

London Gatwick’s sustainability programme, Decade of Change, sets out our plan to achieve net zero for our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The airport will source 50% of its network electricity and 50% of heat network from UK renewable sources by 2030. We will generate power onsite and buy renewable energy direct from suppliers. 

In 2024 London Gatwick cut its own vehicle emissions by 90% after swapping diesel for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).  The airport will transition to a fully EV fleet once the vehicles using HVO need to be replaced

Gatwick also worked to open a fully redeveloped train station, new EV forecourt Gridserve, a staff EV scheme and part-funded zero-emission hydrogen buses in the local community 

Airbus, EasyJet, London Gatwick, and Air Products have formed the London Gatwick Hydrogen Hub to establish how infrastructure to supply hydrogen, including to fuel new aircraft, could be introduced at the airport. London Gatwick is also SAF ready.

Vital Energi provides a comprehensive range of energy related services, systems, and solutions. With over 30 years’ experience, they have in-house capability to design, install, operate and own decentralised energy generation and multi-utility network distribution schemes, including some of the UK’s largest and longest established district heating networks.

As well as owning our own assets, we provide tailored energy management schemes to manage, measure, and reduce energy consumption, they design and install the latest renewable and low carbon technologies, from heat pumps and solar PV farms, to battery storage and waste heat recovery, and their Drakelow energy from waste (EfW) plant, being delivered by VEUL on behalf of Vital Energi Generation Ltd, is now in the operational phase. 

Their solutions provide long term cost benefits for clients across a broad range of sectors, including healthcare, education, industry, commercial, new build, and existing residential. 

With 43 million annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top ten airports.  It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5 billion GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023).  

Almost 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 150 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations.  With a declared capacity of 55 movements an hour, London Gatwick is the most efficient single runway airport in the world.  

The airport is located 28 miles south of the UK capital and is extremely well-connected, with more than a quarter of England’s population (15 million people) – including all of London – less than one hour away by road or rail.  

A six-year, £2 billion growth programme includes an ambitious plan to be a net zero airport by 2030 and to increase capacity by bringing the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use, alongside its Main Runway.  Vinci Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%. 

The world’s leading private airport operator, VINCI Airports operates more than 70 airports in 14 countries. Thanks to its expertise as a global integrator, VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and manages airports by providing its investment capacity and its know-how in optimizing operational performance, modernizing infrastructure and managing their operations and environmental transition. 

VINCI Airports is the first airport operator to have committed to an international environmental strategy in 2016, to achieve the goal of net zero emissions across its entire network by 2050.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is a leading infrastructure investor that specializes in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. 

With decarbonisation central to our investment thesis, we are well positioned to support the global energy transition. Headquartered in New York, GIP has offices in Brisbane, Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, Singapore, Stamford and Sydney.

GIP has approximately $115 billion in assets under management. Our portfolio companies have combined annual revenues of approximately $71 billion and employ over 116,000 people.  

We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our investors’ capital and to create positive economic impact for communities.