Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru is setting new standards for sustainable operations. Water-positive since 2019, the South Indian airport has also reduced Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by more than 95% on its journey to net-zero. The team were honoured with the Aviation Festival Asia Sustainability Achievement Award in recognition of their success.
To learn more about the strategy that’s driven this progress, we sat down with Sridhar L., AVP & Head ESG, for an exclusive interview. Bengaluru’s six pillars of sustainability have been key to setting a defined framework by which the airport can measure results. These pillars cover water stewardship, net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, community-aligned noise management, sustainable procurement, sustainable mobility, and the circular economy. Sridhar notes:
Growing with responsibility is our agenda.
The first airport in Asia to achieve ACI’s coveted Level 5 accreditation for sustainability, Kemepgowda International sends zero waste to landfill and consumes 160 million kilowatts of electricity every year, all of it entirely produced by renewable sources.
That’s the product of hard work by multiple teams and very strong commitment from our management, our managing director, and the entire leadership team.
Moving towards sustainable mobility is the airport’s next target, with the deployment of e-vehicles for ground ops and a multimodal transport hub for passengers. Meanwhile, 2050 is set as the target for net-zero Scope 3 emissions. Sridhar notes that a successful sustainability agenda runs on two rails, one organisational, the other individual.
That’s why we drive a behavioural transformation program towards how we can contribute in our personal life so that whatever we do at the office, we take back home, and it becomes a positive infection across the employees. Wherever they work tomorrow, they carry that sustainable ethos with them.
🎥 Watch the video to get the full interview with Sridhar.
Questions asked include:
- You’ve established ‘Six Pillars of Sustainability’. How has defining key areas for action helped you accelerate a sustainable strategy?
- The airport has managed to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 95%. What initiatives have been key to achieving this?
- How are you looking to deepen/enhance your sustainability strategy moving forward?
- How do you see zero-emissions eVTOLs and other advanced air mobility tech supporting ESG in aviation?
Join us at Aviation Festival Asia 2026 to continue the sustainability conversation.
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