Over 90 airports in India to be carbon-neutral by 2024: Aviation Minister Scindia

The Aviation Ministry aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2030

Over 90 airports in the country will be carbon-neutral by 2024, while the number of airports will rise to 220 in the next five years, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on September 20.

Currently, the country has 141 airports, of which Kochi and Delhi airports are carbon-neutral, the minister said.

"One of the first things that I did when I took over as the aviation minister was to put a carbon mapping profile of our airports. Two of our airports, Delhi and Kochi, are already carbon-neutral and India will have 92-93 carbon-neutral airports by 2024," Mr. Scindia said at the All India Management Association national convention.

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"Civil aviation is a highly visible sector, it's a very high-profile sector which attracts a lot of attention, but if you look at its contribution to green house gases and carbon emissions...its very small... 2% of carbon emissions of the world," he said.

The ministry aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.

"Indian airports will not just achieve the net zero target by 2030, but will likely have over 400 million passengers by then. At present, we have over 200 million domestic and international passengers. But to handle the increase in passengers, the infrastructure on ground has to be improved and increased.