Environmental management and performance

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).

Environment management approach

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 and 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

We are continuing to plan and progress programs and projects related to achieving the targets within our Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2021–2026. We have also commenced a comprehensive review of our sustainability strategy with a particular focus on updating our existing carbon emissions targets. This review aims to align our carbon emission targets with the Commonwealth Net Zero targets. Additionally, we are incorporating climate change considerations more holistically into our strategy to ensure a resilient and forward-thinking approach.

Our approach to environmental sustainability covers 4 key areas, each with its own goal, activities and targets. This is driven by 2 distinct drivers:

As a broader aviation ecosystem we are focused on:

aircraft emissions – working with our airlines and airports to enable a reduction in their aircraft emissions
aircraft noise – engaging with our customers and communities to minimise the impact of aircraft noise.

As an organisation committed to environmental responsibility we are focused on:

ecological sustainability – protecting biodiversity and minimising pollution within our operations
resource management – enhancing efficiency and innovation in resource consumption and improving our climate resilience.

Our activities in this area include:

expansion of user-preferred routes
expansion of noise monitoring data
implementation of noise abatement procedures (NAP)
implementation of Noise Action Plan for Brisbane airport
engagement for environmental impact statement (EIS) of Western Sydney International (WSI) airport
continuous descent operations (predictable sequencing)
completion of post-implementation reviews for various airspace changes
community and stakeholder engagement to address aircraft noise and PFAS concerns
biodiversity protection through environmental values mapping
resource profiling to develop key programs to minimise our environmental footprint
site investigations at various airports
climate change assessment and development of adaptation measures
capturing our Scope 3 emissions in line with our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
launch of sustainable procurement standard
comprehensive environment, social and governance (ESG) review of our supply chain with a particular focus on modern slavery and emissions
procurement of hybrid fire trucks for the upcoming WSI airport
installation of Solar Systems at Brisbane and Melbourne ATSCs

Environmental performance

Our activities and services may have several impacts on the environment, including on ecosystems, communities, natural and physical resources, and heritage. The EMS prescribes the necessary requirements to manage and mitigate potential environmental impacts arising from our activities. It sets clear objectives and targets for environmental performance, ensuring continuous improvement through regular audits and reviews. 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 reasonably practicable’ (ALARP)
achieve positive environmental outcomes
achieve corporate objectives and comply with the requirements of the EMS.

Effectiveness of managing environmental impacts

Table 19 presents key environmental impacts, specific control measures and methods to ensure impacts are minimised. Table 20 details aspects of our performance that are specifically measured to provide insight into the effectiveness of our management.

Table 19: 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 flightpath changes	Aircraft noise All flightpath change projects delivered using a community-by-design approach to minimise impacts where safe and practicable 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 flightpath design principles, to support balanced decision-making Application of our Community Engagement Standard, which ensures communities have the opportunity to contribute to our decision-making and that engagement is sufficient in terms of reaching all those with a potential noticeable change in operations 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 ‘hotspots’ and matters for potential improvement investigation to senior management. Provision of Brisbane noise abatement procedure reporting, including use of over-water modes Expansion of hours for simultaneous opposite direction parallel runway operations (SODPROPS) in Brisbane on weekend mornings and Saturday evening. Aircraft emissions Route optimisation (user-preferred route and dynamic airborne reroute procedures): user-preferred routes have been implemented across oceanic and continental Australian airspace. Standardisation of short-term conflict alert and route-adherence-monitor parameters are under development User-preferred routes saved an estimated 35,000 metric tonnes of CO2 in FY2024 Shared use airspace: a National Airspace Management Office is being established with the implementation of the airspace management tool. This capability will enable airspace efficiencies in support of ICAO’s flexible use airspace concept Trajectory-based operations—continuous descent operations (CDO): the facilitation of continuous descent operations at Melbourne has expanded to include arrivals from Tasmania, New Zealand and Queensland. While most arrivals into Melbourne already perform a CDO at lower altitude, the implementation of this initiative enables a CDO to be flown all the way from top of descent and has saved over 200,000kg of CO2 in FY2024. Work is under way to facilitate CDO from top of descent for arrivals from the east into Sydney, arrivals from the north and east into Perth, and arrivals from the south into Brisbane.	Assurance activities conducted this year including external reviews/audits undertaken by: ISO 14001 auditors an internal review of above-ground change screening to verify conformance with the Aircraft Operations Standard external agencies as required (including the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman) an internal review of our process for delivering on post-implementation-review recommendations an internal review of Western Sydney International (WSI) airport community engagement to ensure all communities with potential noticeable changes had the opportunity to contribute to the EIS public exhibition period. Technical endorsement of airport-developed Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) to provide ongoing assurance in managing development around airports to reduce 4 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 of our remote unmanned and key airport sites has been finalised. This has determined key environmental risks and potential impacts from the infrastructure upgrades and development projects. This also assists with identifying mitigation measures required to manage environmental risks Our EMS provides a structured approach to identifying and mitigating potential risks before they occur. It ensures that all project activities are assessed for their environmental implications, and appropriate control measures are implemented. By establishing clear procedures, regular monitoring, and capability upgrade, the EMS helps to minimise disturbances to the environment such as soil erosion, water contamination and habitat disruption. This proactive management ensures that projects are carried out in a sustainable manner, adhering to environmental regulations and best practices.	A number of internal and third-party assurances were conducted to verify our environmental performance and compliance with regulatory requirements, which include: Internal assurance site-based control reviews conducted by ARFF, ATM and emergency vehicle technicians regular review of environmental occurrences/hazards compliance review against the Dark Smoke Agreement site-based environmental risk assurances. External audits ISO 14001 audit airport tenancy audits completed at Sydney, Gold Coast, Alice Springs, Perth, Bankstown, Camden, Adelaide and Melbourne airports.
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Heritage	Legacy contamination from the historic use of fire fighting foams containing PFAS	Continued 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 by developing conceptual site models conduct of PFAS-related risk assessments identifying and implementing management actions to contain PFAS mass in situ, reducing efflux from our lease areas identifying and implementing remedial actions to remove PFAS mass from source or otherwise treat it in situ (e.g. chemical binding) undertaking research and development, and trial activities to establish the effectiveness and efficacy of PFAS treatment technologies engaging with Commonwealth, state and territory regulatory departments and agencies on our approach to and progress in PFAS management engaging with our stakeholders to inform on our activities, hear their concerns and respond to these. Progressive development of airport-specific PFAS management plans including 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 for key stakeholders across the business Enterprise governance reporting.	Regular review of PFAS-related Enterprise (T2) Risk and Control Actions (CIRRIS) National pollution monitoring program was successfully delivered with trade waste and environmental sampling completed at all required sites.
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Heritage	Impacts from on-ground operational activities	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 (OEMP) at 36 airports across Australia are being updated to align with current operating practices and regulatory requirements A plan has been developed to undertake a review and reassessment of environmental risk at the OEMP sites Functional risks are being redefined to align more closely with environmental values. This shift involves prioritising sustainable practices that minimise environmental harm. This approach ensures that environmental considerations are central to our operational and strategic planning 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) The 2024–2026 Heritage Strategy has been finalised providing an overview of the specific requirements outlined in the EPBC Regulations and, where relevant, strategies for implementation during the 2024–26 period.	A number of internal and third-party assurances were conducted to verify our environmental performance and compliance with regulatory requirements, which include: Internal assurance site-based control reviews conducted by ARFF, ATM and EVT regular review of environmental occurrences/hazards compliance review against the Dark Smoke Agreement site-based environmental risk assurances National Pollution Monitoring Program was successfully delivered with trade waste and environmental sampling completed at all required sites External audits ISO 14001 audit airport tenancy audits completed at Sydney, Gold Coast, Alice Springs, Perth, Bankstown, Camden, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Natural Resources	Use of natural resources result in an increase in resource usage e.g. water or fuel, or waste generation (including energy, and wastewater)	Application of the Environmental Performance Requirements and Controls for Airservices Infrastructure standard requires incorporation of resource efficient and sustainable technologies in the development and refurbishment of infrastructure The 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 A comprehensive review of our sustainability strategy with a particular focus on updating our existing carbon emissions targets has commenced Environmental-values mapping has been completed, which will help manage/minimise risks to local biodiversity.	Development and implementation of a data- management roadmap to support accurate and effective emissions reporting Implementation of the IBM Envizi platform to measure, track and analyse resource data.

Table 20: Environmental performance indicators for 2023–24

Theme	Performance measure	Indicator	Result
Community and social amenity	Complainants	Number of residents who have contacted the NCIS for the 10 major airports	3,302 (increase of 12% complainants against 2022–23 complainants)
	Emissions	Total reduction of aircraft emissions from flightpath changes (cubic tonnes)	No major flightpath changes were introduced in 2023-24 and therefore no change in emissions reported
Ecosystems, Biodiversity	Occurrences	Number of major environmental occurrences	No major environmental occurrences were reported in 2023–24
Heritage	Compliance with EPBC Heritage obligations	Development and implementation of the Heritage Strategy with continual review	The Airservices 2024-2026 Heritage Strategy has been finalised
Natural resources	Energy¹	Scope 1 and Scope 2	26,884.74 tCO₂e (there has been a decrease of 29% in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions from 2021–22)
	Waste²	Amount of waste going to landfills (tonnes) Amount of waste going to recycling facilities (tonnes) (excl liquid and toxic waste)	Our total waste footprint was 4,066. Of this 63 tonnes were diverted. Our total waste footprint is down by 3% on previous reporting period.
	Water	Amount of wastewater (kL)	We are unable to obtain accurate data that would allow this reporting at this time. However, we have already begun the process of collecting this information to support our broader emissions reporting and sustainability efforts.

Energy data is reported for the 2022–2023 reporting period. Decrease is a result of retirement of redundant assets and data capture improvements, resulting in less estimated energy readings.
Total waste diverted reduced significantly compared to last year due to removal of trade waste in calculation.

Climate action in government operations

Australian Public Service Net Zero 2030 Emissions Reporting

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 report transparently on its emissions.

As a corporate Commonwealth entity, Airservices will report on our 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.

The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory in Table 21 presents greenhouse gas emissions over the 2022–23 period. Results are presented on the basis of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions have been calculated in line with the Australian Public Service Emissions Reporting Framework, consistent with the Whole-of-Australian Government approach as part of the APS Net Zero 2030 policy. Not all data sources were available at the time of the report and amendments to data may be required in future reports.

Table 21: Greenhouse gas emissions inventory — location-based method¹

Emission source²	Scope 1 tCO₂e	Scope 2 tCO₂e	Scope 3 tCO₂e	Total tCO₂e
Electricity (location-based approach)	n/a	23,030.41	3,120.78	26,151.19
Natural gas	153.46	n/a	37.42	190.88
Solid waste³	N/A	n/a	548.00	548.00
Fleet and other vehicles	393.87	n/a	97.13	491.00
Domestic flights	n/a	n/a	5,145.26	5,145.26
Other—purchased goods and services and employee commute	n/a	n/a	115,857.00	115,857.00
Other energy	3,307.00	n/a	870.20	4,177.20
Total tCO₂e	3,854.33	23,030.41	125,675.79	152,560.53

Electricity usage emissions are calculated using the location-based method. The quality and accuracy of data is expected to improve over time as emissions reporting matures.
Reportable emissions for 2022–23. Scope 1 and 2 emissions for 2022–23 have decreased compared to 2021–22 as a result of the retirement of redundant assets and data capture improvements. This resulted in less estimated energy readings. There is a considerable increase in our Scope 3 emissions from 2021–22 due to a larger number of categories being considered in 2022–23, including the addition of employee commute and waste data.
Emission sources collected for the first time in 2022–23. The quality and accuracy of data is expected to improve over time as emissions reporting matures.

Table 22: Electricity greenhouse gas emissions¹

	Scope 2 tCO₂e	Scope 3 tCO₂e	Total tCO₂e	Percentage of electricity use
Location-based electricity emissions	23,030.41	3,120.78	26,151.19	100%
Market-based electricity emissions	22,097.94	2,924.73	25,022.66	78.62%
Total renewable electricity	—	—	—	21.38%
— Mandatory renewables²	—	—	—	18.72%
— Voluntary renewables³	—	—	—	2.66%

Reportable emissions for 2022–23. The location-based approach calculates the emissions from the local area in which the energy is consumed, while the market-based approach accounts for electricity purchased through contractual instruments and assigns the associated emissions to the purchasing entity. The quality and accuracy of data is expected to improve over time as emissions reporting matures.
Mandatory renewables are the portion of electricity consumed from the grid that is generated by renewable sources. This includes the renewable power percentage.
Voluntary renewables reflect the eligible carbon credit units surrendered by the entity. This may include purchased large-scale generation certificates, power purchasing agreements, GreenPower and the jurisdictional renewable power percentage (ACT only).

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 2023–24, which accord with ESD principles under the EPBC Act, are described in Table 23.

Table 23: Key ESD aligned activities in 2023–24

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 careful balancing to ensure safety and operational efficiency, protect the environment and minimise the effects of aviation noise on the community, wherever practicable. Since the implementation of our flightpath design principles in 2020 and community engagement framework in 2021, we have continued to evolve our practice to ensure balanced flightpath and airspace change decision-making, supported by effective community engagement. In 2023 we published a new national Community Engagement Standard (CES), providing a clear process for engagement, with the aim of meeting community expectations and ensuring our decisions are informed by community input. The CES was subject to national community feedback to ensure it reflected current community needs and expectations. It has been applied to all new flightpath changes since its publication in September 2023. We are engaging communities early, when considering options for flightpath changes, and are genuinely seeking to identify opportunities to improve our designs and reduce the impact of Australia’s aviation operations on communities.
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). Decision-making processes effectively ntegrate both long term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equity-supporting considerations. The precautionary principle guides health and environmental risk assessments and forms the basis of science-based risk assessments
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 flightpath 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. Four such sensitive remote sites have been inspected to further understand the site-specific environmental risks and any requirement for further environmental protection measures or controls. Risk controls may include additional containment of fuel storage tanks, enhanced incident-response and clean-up resources, and wildlife protection measures. Our revised requirements for flightpath change management include additional quantitative and qualitative measures for assessing biodiversity impacts. Our internal standards for infrastructure development include targeted controls to protect flora and fauna values throughout projects and operational activities.
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 Sustainability Strategy commits to balancing financial growth, environmental stewardship and social responsibility, ensuring long-term benefits for both current and future generations. The strategy encompasses comprehensive measures such as reducing carbon emissions, implementing energy-efficient practices, and promoting the use of renewable resources. By integrating sustainable practices into our operations and supply chain, we not only minimise our environmental footprint but also foster climate change resilience. Adhering to intergenerational principles, we actively invest in community initiatives to minimise impacts of aircraft noise. This forward-thinking approach ensures that the benefits of our sustainable actions today extend well beyond the present, securing a healthier planet and communities. Following are some of the key programs we have implemented: Our facilities at Western Sydney International Airport will be one of the first in the world to take delivery of the newly-developed hybrid Striker Volterra 6x6 ARFF services vehicles. We have installed solar systems at our ATSC facilities in Brisbane and Melbourne. We have developed a comprehensive climate change risk-assessment and adaptation plan aimed at minimising the impact of climate change on our operations and service delivery, and reducing carbon emissions. This plan identifies potential climate-related risks and adaptive measures to enhance climate resilience. Social and sustainable procurement practices. Our procurement practices are aligned with AS/ISO20400 environmentally sustainable procurement standards and various measures are being implemented. We conducted a comprehensive ESG risk analysis of our supply chain with a particular focus on modern slavery and emissions. These insights will inform future strategic initiatives to mature our sustainable procurement capabilities. We continue to meet the mandatory reporting criteria set out under Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cwth) which outlines actions taken to address the modern slavery risks in our operations and supply chain over the financial year. We introduced a Supplier Code of Conduct to support our commitment to ethical, sustainable and socially responsible procurement. The code communicates our expectations of our own business as well as our suppliers. We remain committed to increasing supplier diversity in our supply chain and have increased our spend significantly compared to last year. We continue to evolve and enhance our EMS by: embedding environmental sustainability objectives and outcomes into key national operating standards and other Airservices frameworks and subordinate document suites assigning environmental and sustainability accountabilities for key executive roles publishing environmental legal compliance obligations procedures delivering and implementing 36 operational environment management plans (OEMP), and improving 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 continue to support the ‘Connecting the Nation’ portal, sponsorship of the Airways Museum based at Essendon Fields Airport, and the 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). The 2024–2026 Heritage Strategy has been finalised providing an overview of the specific requirements outlined in the EPBC Regulations and, where relevant, strategies for implementation during the 2024–26 period. We continue to work towards improving the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and production. We reported in accordance with the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 requirements for 2022–23.
Valuation principle: improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms should be promoted.	The impacts of aircraft emissions, aircraft noise and the industry’s reliance on other natural resources are increasingly being raised at both a global, national and community level. 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 for the following: aircraft emissions aircraft-noise space environmental sustainability sustainable resource management. We drove progress through ambitious goals as demonstrated below through our environmental responsibility in action: User-preferred routes saved an estimated 35,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ in 2023–24. Continuous descent operations saved more than 200,000 kg of CO₂ in 2023–24.