Environmental management and performance – Airservices Annual Report 2022-2023

Environment management approach

This section of the report meets the requirements of section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) and describes our environmental performance and how we contribute to environmentally sustainable development (ESD).

Environmental management system

We operate an environment management system (EMS) to manage our organisational environmental performance and achieve the ESD principles under the EPBC Act.

Our EMS is aligned to ISO 14001:2015, an internationally recognised framework for effective organisational environmental management. We have extended the scope of our ISO 14001 certification, we now have 3 certified sites – Canberra, Cairns and Adelaide airport facilities. These sites are audited annually against the requirements of the standard. We also take a continuous improvement approach over the governance of the EMS, as required by ISO 14001.

Our EMS, supported by the environmental policy, embeds a framework of hierarchical standards, procedures and controls that clearly govern how we:

manage our environmental impacts
comply with regulatory obligations
achieve positive environmental outcomes.

Environmental Sustainability Strategy

The Airservices long-term Sustainability Strategy 2021-26 has been published and our 10 programs of projects and initiatives are on track to reduce our environmental footprint in line with our commitments under the Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

To progress though the Sustainability Strategy, an environmental sustainability plan was developed for financial year 2022-23 with the following program of activities:

route optimisation
shared use airspace and trajectory-based operations
expansion of noise monitoring data
improved balancing of comparing flight path design constraints
continuous descent operations
biodiversity protection prioritisation
waste protection measures
environmental management plans (EMP)
resource profiling
sustainability opportunity discovery
climate change impact assessment and remediation plan
sustainable procurement practices
resource efficiency performance enhancement
promotional and engagement program
governance and reporting.

Environmental performance

Our activities and services may have a number of impacts on our environment, including on ecosystems, communities, natural and physical resources, and heritage. The EMS prescribes the necessary requirements for the organisation to manage and mitigate potential environmental impacts arising from our activities. Our conformance with the framework ensures compliance with our environmental obligations, demonstrates the effectiveness of controls implemented and provides insights for future continuous improvement.

We manage our operational processes to:

prevent regulatory and legal non-conformance
prevent or minimise environmental harm
minimise risks to a level considered as low as practicable (ALARP)
achieve positive environmental outcomes
achieve corporate objectives and comply with the requirements of the EMS.

Effectiveness of managing environmental impacts

Table 16 presents key environmental impacts, specific control measures and methods to ensure impacts are minimised. Table 17 details aspects of our performance which are specifically measured to provide insight into the effectiveness of our management.

Table 16 – Key potential environmental impacts and associated EMS control measures and assurance mechanisms

Theme	Activity impact	Measures taken to minimise environmental impacts	Ongoing assurance
Community, and Social amenity	Aircraft noise and emissions impacts from flight path changes	Aircraft noise Application of the Environmental Management of Changes to Aircraft Operations standard, which requires: environmental impact and risk assessment of proposed changes seeking the Commonwealth Environment Minister's advice under the EPBC Act for changes deemed to trigger potential 'significant impact' community noticeability assessment and community engagement on all proposed changes. Application of flight path design principles, to support balanced decision-making. Application of our Community Engagement Framework (CEF) to provide clear, timely and transparent engagement on flight path changes. Provision of a Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS), which: receives and responds to complaints through a dedicated call centre and online application investigates and reports on complaints reports complaints 'hotpots' and matters for potential improvement investigation to senior management. Internal dashboards developed for Noise Abatement Procedures (NAP) compliance at Brisbane and Sunshine Coast airports, with plans to expand to other airports. Continuous descent operations trial commenced in Melbourne to evaluate noise improvements. Restriction on intersection departures trial implemented in Brisbane to assess potential noise improvements gained through full length runway departures over land. Extended simultaneous opposite direction parallel runway operations (SODPROPS) trial in Brisbane to determine if this mode could be safely used in busier traffic hours to provide noise relief for communities. Aircraft emissions Implementation of the airspace change process to embed airspace performance and flight efficiency assessments. Route optimisation (user preferred route and dynamic airborne reroute procedures): user preferred route standardisation activities are being conducted, including a trial probe tool for continental Australia and standardisation of short-term conflict alert and route adherence monitor for CMATS implementation. Shared use airspace: a national airspace management team is being formed to support the integration of the airspace management tool and enable airspace efficiencies in support of flexible use airspace. Trajectory-based operations â€“ continuous descent operations (CDO): a trial to increase continuous descent operations at Melbourne is currently underway for flights from Canberra and Sydney. The trial will be turned into standard practice and extended to arrivals into Melbourne from Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as arrivals from Brisbane and the North-west.	Internal assurance reviews and audits undertaken across 3 lines of defence. External reviews/audits undertaken by: ISO 14001 auditors external agencies as required (including the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman) Improvement opportunities identified through Post Implementation Reviews (PIR) for Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Hobart flight path and airspace changes. Technical endorsement of airport developed Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) to provide on-going assurance in managing development around airports to reduce aircraft noise impacts.
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Heritage	Impacts from on-ground changes - including construction projects	Application of environmental management of changes to on-ground activities standard, which requires: targeted environmental impact and risk assessment of proposed changes investigation and acquittal of all approval and permitting requirements documentation and implementation of specific project controls, including construction environmental management plans. Environmental values mapping for our remote unmanned and key airport sites has been finalised. This will ascertain key environmental risks and potential impacts from the infrastructure upgrades, and development projects and identify mitigation measures required to manage environmental risks. Application of other subsidiary EMS standards and procedures (including publication of Contamination Management and Assessment procedure), including our infrastructure management standard, incident management standards, environmental occurrence response procedures and chemical management procedures. Environmental awareness training.	Internal assurance reviews and audits undertaken across 3 lines of defence. External reviews/audits undertaken by: ISO 14001 auditors stakeholders as required (e.g. Airport Lessee Company Environmental Officers and Airport Environment Officers) (AEOs) of DITRDCA).
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Heritage	Legacy contamination from the historic use of fire fighting foams containing PFAS	Implementation of the Enterprise per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) program management plan, including: preliminary, targeted and detailed site investigations of our lease areas and environments to confirm the presence and determine the nature (depth, lateral extent) of PFAS contamination and understand the behaviour (movement) of PFAS mass through the development of Conceptual Site Models conduct PFAS-related risk assessments identify and implement management actions to contain PFAS mass in situ reducing efflux from our lease areas identify and implement remedial actions to remove PFAS mass from source or otherwise treat it in situ (e.g., chemical binding) undertake research and development and trial activities to establish the effectiveness and efficacy of PFAS treatment technologies engage with Commonwealth, State and Territory regulatory departments and agencies in regards to our approach to and progress in PFAS management engage with our stakeholders to inform of our activities, to hear of their concerns and to respond to these. Progressive development of airport-specific PFAS management plans inclusive of airport-specific stakeholder engagement and consultation plans and remediation action plans. Application of EMS standards and procedures including incident management, environmental occurrence response procedures and chemical management procedures as required. PFAS and general environmental awareness training. Enterprise governance reporting. Application of other subsidiary EMS standards and procedures (including incident management, environmental occurrence response procedures and chemical management procedures, contamination management and assessment, and ARFFS environmental management procedure). Environmental awareness training, including environmental legal obligations and management of on-ground operational activities.	Regular review of PFASrelated Enterprise (T2) Risk and Control Actions (CIRRIS) Internal assurance reviews and audits External reviews/audits: ISO 14001 auditors stakeholders as required (e.g. Airport's Tenant's Audits, Department Airport Environment Officers). General environmental monitoring (surface water, groundwater etc.)
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Heritage	Impacts from on-ground operational activities	A National Pollution Monitoring Program has been established and is being delivered to ensure compliance across our sites is achieved with regards to the management of contamination and wastewater. Mapping of site environmental compliance obligations (including Commonwealth and State legislative obligations) has been completed for ongoing tracking and monitoring of environmental compliance. The outcome of this work has enabled linkage of obligations to controls, risks, and actions to provide greater assurance of compliance and risks for site-based obligations. The Operational Environment Management Plans (OEMPS) at 36 airports across Australia are being updated to align with current operating practices and regulatory requirements. The operationalisation of these plans has been completed and an assurance program has been developed to verify and validate the implementation of relevant controls. A plan has been developed to undertake a review and reassessment of environmental risk at the OEMP sites. Application of the environmental performance requirements and controls for Airservices infrastructure standard, which prescribes objectives and key controls for managing each lifecycle stage of infrastructure development (including the operational phase). Application of Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) environmental management instructions and other subsidiary EMS standards and procedures (including fuel and hazardous materials storage procedures, environmental occurrence response procedures, chemical management procedures and weed and pest control guidelines). Finalised the next stage of heritage assessment which included a review of radar sites with potential heritage values as per heritage strategy directives.	Regular review of our enterprise environmental risk and control actions Internal assurance reviews and audits undertaken across 3 lines of defence. External reviews/audits undertaken by: ISO 14001 auditors stakeholders as required (e.g., Airport Lessee Company Environmental Officers and Airport Environment Officers (AEOs) of DITRDCA). A triennial Heritage Report to the Minister of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water on the performance of the Heritage Strategy. External service provider engaged to carry out impartial heritage value assessments for possible inclusion in the heritage register.
Natural Resources	Use of natural resources result in an increase in resource usage, such as water or fuel, or waste generation (including energy, and wastewater)	Application of environmental performance requirements and controls for Airservices infrastructure standard requires incorporation of resource efficient and sustainable technologies in the development and refurbishment of infrastructure. Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2021-2026 outlines our key goals and outcomes, including sustainable resource management. A waste reduction roadmap has been developed to address recycling opportunities, infrastructure improvements and waste minimisation. Identification and delivery of protection measures is progressing following the establishment of a national monitoring contract and the PFAS Remediation program commencing for Brisbane and Launceston.	Internal assurance reviews and audits undertaken across 3 lines of defence.

Table 17 – Environmental performance indicators for 2022-23

Theme	Performance measure	Indicator	Result
Community and social amenity	Complainants	Number of residents who have contacted the NCIS for the 10 major airports	2,942 (15% increase on 2021-22 complainants)
Community and social amenity	Emissions	Total reduction of aircraft emissions from flight path changes (cubic tonnes)	No major flight path changes were introduced in 2022-23 and therefore no change in emissions reported
Ecosystems, Biodiversity	Occurrences	Number of major environmental occurrences	One major environmental occurrence was reported in 2022-23
Heritage	Compliance with EPBC Heritage obligations	Development and implementation of the Heritage Strategy with continual review	Minister of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's approval and publishing of updated Heritage Management Plans undertaken for Hobart, Sydney, Bankstown, Essendon, Launceston and Parafield ATC towers
Natural resources	Energy¹	Scope 1 and Scope 2	43,994,207.43 kWh 38,166.50 tCO₂e ³
Natural resources	Waste²	Amount of waste going to landfills (tonnes) Amount of waste going to recycling facilities (tonnes) (excluding liquid and toxic waste)	Waste to landfill was 4,180 tonne out of which 2,200 tonne was diverted

Notes:

Data for 2021-22.
Data sourced from Veolia.
Sum of greenhouse gas emission Scope 1 and Scope 2 in Table 18

The Australian Public Service (APS) Net Zero 2030

The Australian Public Service (APS) Net Zero 2030 is the government’s policy for the APS to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030, and transparently report on its emissions.

As a corporate Commonwealth entity, Airservices is required to report on its operational greenhouse gas emissions under section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Taking into consideration the distinct aviation industry and APS commitments, we are currently reviewing our commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

Greenhouse gas emissions reporting has been developed with methodology that is consistent with the whole-of-Australian Government approach as part of the APS Net Zero 2030 policy. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory below presents our latest results based on carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e) emissions.

Table 18 – Greenhouse gas emissions inventory (location-based method)¹

Emission source	Scope 1 kg CO₂-e	Scope 2 kg CO₂-e	Scope 3 kg CO₂-e	Total kg CO₂-e
Electricity²	N/A	33,765,010	4,057,542	37,822,552
Natural Gas	184	N/A	28	212
Fleet vehicles	1,154,145	N/A	289,336	1,443,481
Domestic flights³	N/A	N/A	3,424,960	3,424,960
Other energy	3,247,162	N/A	848,318	4,095,480
Total kg CO₂-e	4,401,491	33,765,010	8,620,184	46,786,686

Notes:

Reportable emissions for 2021-22.
Electricity usage emissions are calculated using the location-based method.
Domestic flights emissions for 2022-23.

Environmentally sustainable development

We are aligned to the National Strategy for Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) through our environmental protection measures encompassed within our environment management system (EMS).

The ESD principles are embedded into our operational activities to ensure these are undertaken in an environmentally sustainable way through meeting the requirements of the EMS, which is underpinned by our environmental policy and corporate plan.

ESD alignment and contribution

Key improvements for 2022-23, which accord with ESD principles under the EPBC Act, are described in Table 18.

Table 19 – Key ESD aligned activities in 2022-23

Environmentally Sustainable Development Principles	Activities in accordance with ESD Principles
Integration principle: decision-making processes should effectively integrate both long and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations.	Airspace change requires a careful balance of ensuring safety, operational efficiency, protecting the environment and minimising the effects of aviation noise on the community, wherever practicable. Since the implementation of our flight path design principles in 2020 and Community Engagement Framework in 2021, we have continued to evolve our practice to ensure balanced flight path and airspace change decision-making, supported by effective community engagement. In 2022, we commenced reporting against our flight path design principles for our larger change projects. This provides transparency around how each element was considered in an effort to strike a balance between often competing priorities, namely aircraft track miles and emissions versus aircraft noise impacts. In 2022-23 we prepared a draft Community Engagement Standard on which we engaged with community and industry nationally. This standard will establish a clear engagement requirement for changes of various scope and scale and will provide a benchmark against which to measure our performance. The final standard will be published in early 2023-24.
Precautionary principle: if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.	All PFAS program-based risk assessments undertaken by Airservices are consistent with the principles of environmentally sustainable development (ESD). Our activities are aligned with a series of environmental sustainable development principles. Decision-making processes effectively integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equity-supporting considerations. If there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. The precautionary principle guides health and environmental risk assessments and forms the basis of science-based risk assessments.
Intergenerational principle: the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations.	Our Environmental and Sustainability Strategy establishes goals, objectives, and targets for improvement in environmental performance to meet government and industry policy and community expectations, including addressing obligations under the Climate and Disaster Risk Direction Statement. The Environmental Sustainability Plans has commenced implementation with new initiatives. These include: - Baseline and benchmarking of resource profile: Stage 1 and 2 insights for environmental footprint profiling work has been utilised to identify measures and technologies to improve resource stewardship, review of sustainable procurement processes, set future interim targets for net zero emissions and develop a plan for delivery against these outcomes. Scoping investigations have begun for transitioning the ARFF fleet to electric vehicles, and we are currently exploring the market for improvements in our waste infrastructure, climate change assessments, and meters for energy monitoring. - Resource profiling: we are undertaking various activities to establish Climate Active Reporting ramework for the emission reporting. Additionally, technologies are currently being explored to bring improvements in our waste infrastructure, and meters for energy monitoring. - Opportunity discovery: Stage 3 to reduce our environmental footprint is progressing well in identifying measures, infrastructure improvement, resource stewardship and review of sustainable procurement processes. This work will assist in setting interim future targets for net zero emissions. - Sustainable procurement practices: alignment of our procurement practices with AS/ISO20400 environmentally sustainable procurement standards has commenced and various measures are being implemented. - Resource efficiency performance enhancement: a detailed design is currently being developed to install solar panels at our Melbourne compound. Investigations have commenced for transitioning the ARFF fleet to electric vehicles. We continue to evolve and enhance our EMS with the: - embedding of environmental sustainability objectives and outcomes into key national operating standards, other Airservices frameworks and subordinate document suite - assignment of environmental and sustainability accountabilities for key executive roles - publication of environmental legal compliance obligations procedure - delivery and implementation of the 36 Operational Environment Management Plans (OEMPs), and - improved organisational incident management processes and procedures. We continue to promote environmental awareness and train key staff on on-ground environmental issues while undertaking a targeted audit and assurance program to check and improve our performance. We have been working with the Civil Aviation Historical Society and other stakeholders to preserve Australia's aviation history. We continued to support 'Connecting the Nation' portal, sponsorship of the Airways Museum based at Essendon Fields Airport, and industry partnership with the Australian Research Council for the Heritage of the Air Project (a research project investigating how aviation has transformed Australian society over the last 100 years). We reviewed and updated our Heritage Strategy for the period 2021-2023, in accordance with Section 341ZA of the EPBC Act. We continue to work towards improving the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and production. We reported in accordance with National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 requirements for 2022-23.
Biodiversity principle: the conservation of biological diversity and environmental integrity should be a fundamental consideration in decision making.	The protection of biodiversity values is a key requirement of the EMS, with associated controls built into the management of all our activities (from flight path changes to on-ground operations). The mapping of environmental values surrounding remote unmanned navigational and communications facilities along with key airport sites has been completed. The data has informed a risk assessment of the most environmentally sensitive sites which will enable the organisation's targeting of further risk controls where needed most. Our revised requirements for flight path change management includes additional quantitative and qualitative measures for assessing biodiversity impacts. Our internal standards for infrastructure development includes targeted controls to protect flora and fauna values throughout projects and operational activities.
Valuation principle: improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms should be promoted.	The impacts of aircraft emissions, aircraft noise and the industryâ€™s reliance on other natural resources are increasingly being called out at global, national and community levels. Our Environmental Sustainability Strategy outlines how we contribute to the wider international aviation sustainability agenda over 2021-2026. It focuses on achieving better environmental outcomes within the following: - aircraft emissions - aircraft noise space - environmental sustainability - sustainable resource management. We drove progress through ambitious goals and the below demonstrates our environmental responsibility in action: - 400 kg of fuel saved per arrival, due to continuous descent approach - 115,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved per year due to Smart Tracking.