A LOT OF RECENT TALK surrounding sustainability and environmentalism seems directly concerned with travel and searching for ways to make air travel more environmentally friendly. Oslo Gardermoen Airport has worked to that end since it began service in 1998.

Norway’s busiest airport acts as a hub for Scandinavian Airlines and Widerøe. The airport also serves as an operating base for Norwegian Air Shuttle and connects 26 destinations in Norway and 152 destinations internationally.

When it originally opened, Oslo Airport was intended to handle 17 million passengers annually. In 2013 the airport served nearly 23 million. On April 27, 2017, an airport expansion debuted, allowing the facility to serve its current traffic of 32 million passengers each year. Since the completion of the expansion project, Oslo Airport deliberately positioned itself as a role model for other airports when it comes to environmental issues. The expansion, for instance, was designed and operates as close to carbon-neutral as possible.

As it turns to the future, Gardermoen follows a roadmap to staying green. On one count, the airport continues to pursue increased use of renewable energy. On another, it maintains an absolute requirement of preventing the activities of the airport from impacting groundwater. Chemicals that treat surfaces during icy and otherwise bad weather have the potential to cause disastrous effects on the local groundwater supply. To protect this resource, airport crews gather and treat surface water before it can contaminate groundwater.

The airport employs a number of initiatives to remain as carbon-neutral as possible. A large amount of recycled materials and climatefriendly insulation materials go a long way toward sustainability. Wooden roofing, in place of the standard metal, offers just one piece of the equation.

Oslo Airport’s next goal includes expanding the railway system serving the airport. In 2013 65 percent of Oslo’s passengers arrived and departed via public transportation. By 2020 the airport hopes 70 percent of passengers will utilize the public transportation system.

Finally, unique processes for heating and cooling the airport really set Oslo apart from other airports all over the world. Facilities collect sewage from the municipalities of northern Ullensaker and Nannestad and the airport itself. Treating the wastewater and transferring it to the airport creates heat. To cool the expanded terminal, snow removed from runways in the winter is collected and stored in underground basins. The water from the melting snow cools the terminal in the summer.

Oslo Gardermoen Airport stands out among contemporaries. Whereas other airports eventually might be forced into regulation by governmental agencies, the airport and its managing body, Avinor, take the lead.

The planet has a long way to go before air travel stops impacting the environment in a harmful way, but with Oslo and others taking the reins on things like sustainable fuel, that future may be closer than it seems.