In a milestone achievement, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur, which includes Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, has been awarded the coveted EcoVadis Gold Medal for the first time, an honour shared by only one other airport globally in 2025. This recognition, which is based on the strength of a company’s sustainability managements systems, places the group amongst the top 5% of over 150,000 companies assessed worldwide and within the elite 1% of businesses in the airport and aviation sector to have attained this accolade.
Since 2007, EcoVadis has been a trusted, worldwide provider of business sustainability ratings with a network of more than 150,000 companies participating. Eligibility requirements are stringent, with medals only being awarded to companies who achieve minimum scores in four themes, namely environment, ethics, labour and Human rights and sustainable procurement.
Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur has, for the first time ever, been award a gold medal, reflecting efforts made in recent years to improve their environmental footprint as well as implementing sustainable practices and transparency into their business model.
The accolade was granted following a rigorous evaluation by EcoVadis, which relates on 21 sustainability criteria, assigning a score out of 100. This year, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur earned an impressive overall score of 77, an increase of 10 points from 2024.
The airport operator achieved significant gains in every category.
Environmental performance rose by eight points to 78, thanks to clearer updates in environmental policy and greater transparency in disclosing greenhouse gas emissions across all scopes. In the social domain, a 10-point increase brought the score to 80, driven by a revised policy and comprehensive reporting of social initiatives.
Ethical practices saw progress as well, improving by 12 points to reach 72. This was largely the result of new risk assessments and awareness campaigns focused on anti-corruption and information security. Meanwhile, the sustainable procurement score climbed an impressive 17 points to 67, due to the integration of CSR principles into procurement policies, better tracking of Scope 3 emissions, and more robust data collection.
EcoVadis praised the company’s progress, stating, “The company has a solid foundation, particularly in the environmental and social sectors. Recent work on ethics and sustainable procurement has led to a significant improvement in the rating.”
The Gold Medal not only cements the group’s leadership in sustainability but also marks a significant milestone on its intended path toward long-term responsible growth.
Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Executive Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur, said of the achievement, “This medal rewards the efforts of all the teams at Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur and validates the ambitious approach of our new Strategic Plan, Azur 2030, which sets us precise, quantified, measured and time-sequenced objectives. Based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, they cover the environment, social issues, governance, ethics and the region.”
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Photo credit: Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life