Key issues and priorities

This section lists the key environmental, social and economic issues that are associated with our business. They are based on our business strategy, risk management process and the frequency with which they are raised by stakeholders as issues of concern.

The BAA Corporate Responsibility Board oversees an annual exercise to determine these priorities taking into account information from stakeholder surveys, auditor feedback and BAA’s overall business objectives. At Gatwick we also identify priority issues through dialogue with our local stakeholders. For some of these issues we have direct or significant control, for others, we need to exert influence and leadership, working with our airline customers and other business partners.

Within these webpages we discuss in more detail how we seek to manage each issue. We describe our approach to our key social and environmental issues in the following way:

The issue: An overview of why the issue is important.

Our objectives: Sets out what our goal is in relation to the issue.

Our strategy: Outlines what steps we are taking to deliver our objectives.

Our performance:  Illustrates how we have performed over the last year.

Going forward: Discusses the next steps that we are planning to take.

We also publish a series of issues briefs that provide an overview of BAA policy and actions on each key issue. They can be read in conjunction with the information given here, which provides more detail on the Gatwick approach and the latest performance data.

We are part of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) which brings together organisations throughout the air transport chain that are committed to addresssing challenges facing the industry. You can also find out more about aviation and the environment by visiting www.enviro.aero, a cross-aviation-industry initiative that redresses the balance in the debate. The website demostrates that aviation is serious about the environment and is taking practical measures to limit emissions.