Three level model

Greenhouse gas emissions from air navigation service providers are identified in three areas:

• Emissions of aircraft and ground vehicles under the direct control of the ANSP, including air traffic management; communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) equipment, more fuel-efficient routes to and from airports, and data centre management.
• Indirect emissions not totally under control of the ANSP – purchased electricity, heating/cooling, staff mobility. 
• All other related but non-aviation emissions – waste from operations, pensions, use of biodegradable and waste reducing materials.

The first area where inputs from airspace management directly impact emissions from aircraft is largely unquantifiable, even though it is responsible for as much as 70% of all ANSP-related emissions. FABEC ANSPs are using new tools and procedures to investigate and understand their direct responsibility for managing these emissions.

With horizontal flight efficiency levels in Europe currently around 97%, close to optimal levels, environmental improvement is limited to a few areas – such as vertical efficiency improvements, reducing route availability document (RAD) measures and more optimised routings at the airspace borders of States and functional airspace blocks.

The FABEC Environmental Standing Committee was established in March 2020, just three months after the Commission launched the Green Deal initiative. Since then, the committee has overseen key operational changes including the introduction of shorter cross-border routes, lifting of level caps and route restrictions, and reduced complexity between adjacent control centres.