Manchester Airport renews commitments to investing in local communities and Net Zero transition

Manchester Airport has published its latest annual CSR report for 2021-22, outlining its achievements in supporting local communities and making the transition to Net Zero Carbon over the past 12 months.

The report renews the commitments of the whole Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to its 2020 CSR Strategy, ‘Working together for a brighter future.’ The strategy sets out how the airport will seek to deliver positive change through its outreach programmes on the key themes of environmental sustainability, careers, and community engagement.

The publication of the 2021-22 CSR report coincides with the launch of the new MAG Connect programme to nurture the next generation of aviation talent.

Neil Robinson, MAG’s CSR Director said:

“Our latest annual CSR Report outlines the important contribution our education and employment facilities made to our communities over the last 12 months; alongside the progress we have made against our goal to be a net zero carbon business by 2038.

“Despite the challenges faced by our industry over the last 12 months, I am proud of what MAG has achieved in delivering a more sustainable future for our industry and those who live closest to our airports.”

The CSR Report revealed that more than 800 school pupils from across the North West visited Manchester Airport’s Aerozone in the two months after its launch, and the facility hopes to host 5,000 pupils per year. The Airport Academy, meanwhile, played a crucial role in the airport’s recruitment efforts as it recovered from the pandemic, making more than more than 4,000 job referrals.

MAG’s commitment to a sustainable future goes beyond education and employment, and this year’s report also detailed the work delivered to support communities and progress the airport’s decarbonisation agenda over the past 12 months, as it continued to recover from the impact of Covid-19.

Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund celebrates its 25^th anniversary in December, and to mark the occasion, has launched a one-off ‘eco-garden’ competition for schools in its catchment area, with a top prize of £25,000 for the primary school which produces the best design for an outdoor learning space. The Community Trust Fund continues to pledge a minimum of £100,000 per year to supporting community-led, not-for-profit projects and groups in communities neighbouring the airport.

As part of its ongoing work to deliver on its CSR Strategy, in recent months MAG has set out further ambitious commitments, including:

• Announcing plans to publish a MAG Good Employment Charter by the end of 2022/23, which will set the standards people can expect when they work for the Group, or at any one of the companies in its supply chain.
• The publication of five new Jet Zero pledges to help drive forward the UK’s 2050 net zero target, including a commitment to create a new sustainability curriculum for its Aerozones, and to fund three PhDs focused on the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.
• Piloting its new Youth Forum scheme to put the views of young people across MAG’s local communities to greater effect in the Group’s plans for the future.