"I make the commitment that within 10 years the Portuguese airports/ANA will have zero carbon emissions," said the CEO of the French VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports, Nicolas Notebaert.


Nicolas Notebaert stated that "Portugal will probably be the first country in Europe and in the world to have "zero emissions" of noxious gases for the environment in its airports.


Vinci Airports, a subsidiary of the Vinci Group, is a French airport operator that since 2013 owns the Portuguese company ANA, responsible for managing 10 airports in Portugal, i.e. mainland (Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Beja Civil Terminal), as well as the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Ponta Delgada, Horta, Santa Maria and Flores) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (Madeira and Porto Santo).


For Nicolas Notebaert it is necessary to reconcile "mobility, tourism and the fight against climate change", and the environmental commitment is "necessary. "That is why Portugal will take the lead in green electricity in airports," he said.


The CEO of Vinci Concessions also stressed that "the summer was very positive", "a success for the country [Portugal] in terms of tourism", being the intention of the multinational that he leads "to continue to invest as much as possible in the country".


A new photovoltaic plant at Faro Airport, inaugurated in July, is part of a global action plan by Vinci Airports at all its airports, with similar projects already implemented or under development in other countries.


This project in the Algarve will produce 30 percent of the airport's energy needs, generating annual savings equivalent to more than 1,500 tons of CO2, according to data from the French multinational.