London Gatwick celebrates decade of biodiversity recognition
- London Gatwick has secured The Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Benchmark Award for the 10th year in a row.
- The award recognises exemplary management of the airport’s natural habitats.
- More than 23,000 volunteers, local schools, and community groups have taken part in London Gatwick’s biodiversity activities.
London Gatwick has achieved The Wildlife Trust’s Biodiversity Benchmark Award for efforts to protect and enhance 91 hectares of land surrounding the airport for 10 years running.
This prestigious award places London Gatwick among just 16 organisations to hold the certification, celebrating our outstanding stewardship of natural habitats, setting a gold standard in biodiversity management.
Over 23,000 passionate volunteers, local schools, and community groups have actively participated in our biodiversity initiatives in the past decade. Their efforts have helped protect and enhance 91 hectares of land surrounding the airport, nurturing ecosystems that support more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fungi, including rare and threatened species like nightingales and great crested newts.
Our collaboration with the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership has been instrumental in enhancing grassland, woodland, hedgerows, and wetland areas as part of our Biodiversity Action Plan.
Colin Mendendez, Biodiversity Benchmark Assessor, The Wildlife Trust said: “Congratulations to everyone at London Gatwick on this 10 year achievement - it’s a great example of how businesses can make a difference in protecting the natural world. London Gatwick’s dedication to combining meticulous ecological management of their land with community involvement sets a standard that’s both inspiring and impactful.”
Darcey Haldar, Senior Ecologist, London Gatwick said: “Receiving The Wildlife Trusts’ Biodiversity Benchmark Award for 10 years in a row, every year since 2015, is a tremendous honour.
“The flora and fauna in our biodiversity areas are thriving, thanks to our dedicated environmental team, volunteers, and community partners.
“Through our sustainability policy, Decade of Change, we will continue championing sustainability and community engagement in our commitment to running the airport responsibly.”
With 41 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 sustainable 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.
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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 decarbonization 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. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com.
The Wildlife Trusts have created the Biodiversity Benchmark to encourage organisations to manage their land for wildlife and it is the first scheme to recognise continual biodiversity improvement of land. The Benchmark is flexible and adaptable, so that it can be applied to any organisation which manages land, from businesses through to local authorities, service utilities, the NHS, developers and charities. The Wildlife Trusts’ Biodiversity Benchmark is designed to recognise biodiversity improvements on an organisation’s landholdings; it is not an endorsement of an organisation’s activities or a measurement of its broader environmental performance or impacts. For more information: http://www.biodiversitybenchmark.org.
