A glazed terminal building at Marseille Provence Airport designed by Foster + Partners has come under fire from France's environmental authorities over fears it could hinder France's target to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
The Autorité Environnementale (AE) issued a report calling on the developer Aeroport Marseille Provence (AMP) and the French state to "demonstrate the compatibility of the project with the commitment of France to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050".
France wrote its pledge to reduce it's carbon output to net zero by 2050 into law in June 2019. It also plans to reduce its fossil fuel consumption by 40 per cent by 2030.
Airport will be carbon efficient claims architects
Foster + Partners has designed the glazed terminal building to link Marseille Provence Airport's original 1960s building with the 1990s extension designed by Richard Rogers. The plans include a pier with 12 aerobridges for passengers to embark and disembark and are projected to increase the airport's capacity to 12 million passengers a year. The studio defended the sustainable credentials of it design.
"Our sustainable design proposal will exceed the existing French HQE standard to align with the new E+C- standard, ensuring further energy and carbon efficiency," a spokesperson for Foster + Partners told Dezeen.
The E+C- standard is a new certification for energy positive, low carbon building projects, which is being introduced after the 2016 Paris Agreement where UN co...