hOListic Green Airport (OLGA) is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to reduce the environmental impact of the aviation sector. It develops innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce CO2 emissions, optimise energy efficiency, preserve biodiversity, and improve air quality and waste management while involving the entire aviation value chain.
OLGA in a nutshell
In 2018, flights globally produced 895 million tonnes of CO2 (2 – 3% of global emissions), of which airports are a small percentage. To accommodate growth sustainably, airports must cooperatively bundle their actions to address environmental concerns.
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OLGA unites 58 relevant stakeholders from industry, technology providers, academics, regulators, and associations, supported by a highly qualified Advisory Board. Specific attention has been given to the inclusion of innovative SMEs. They will jointly respond to the Climate Challenge, aligned with the European Green Deal. The ambition is to accelerate and move faster than the EU 2050 Climate Neutrality objective in achieving sustainable airports. OLGA airports are committed to the ACI Europe "Net-Zero 2050" pledge, and the partners support the forthcoming "Destination 2050" roadmap for a net-zero European aviation sector.​
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The OLGA project aims to demonstrate the impact of the environmental innovations and concepts presented at the lighthouse airport and occasionally directly in fellow airports. Such innovations are scalable and generic, laying the foundations for greener airports throughout Europe. Therefore, the project will replicate several innovation activities from the lighthouse airport at fellow airports: Milano Malpensa in Italy, Zagreb in Croatia, and Cluj Napoca in Romania.
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The capacity of European airports to embrace technology, new business models, and governance will be instrumental to OLGA's success in the project and the exploitation of its results afterwards. OLGA will confirm the lasting impact, public acceptance, scalability, and broad applicability to European airports and beyond, including the 21 other airports from ADP Group, which signed the "Airport for Trust" commitment in January 2021.
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ARC's role
We are leader of the communication and dissemination work package, also coordinating the cross-fertilisation activities.
OLGA project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 101036871.