Regional Environment Committee Elects New Leaders for 2021-2022

Dr. M. Muthukrishnan is the Head of Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability of Airport Sector (Construction) at the GMR Group in India. He has more than 14 years of experience in aviation environment and sustainability management. He currently leads the advancement of environmental safeguards and sustainable developments in India in the area of aviation environmental standards, green aviation policy, green buildings for airports, climate change management, carbon neutral progress for aviation, sustainability development agenda and resource conservations programs.  

Dr. Muthukrishnan has been supporting REC’s work since joining the Committee in 2012 and took up the leadership role as Vice Chair in 2018.  

“I’d like to thank the REC members as this is an added vote of confidence for me and our exiting Chair, Ir. Khairiah Salleh on the good work done so far during such difficult period where members also needed to deal with the pandemic. With the support of Mr. Gerald Ng, I am determined to take on this challenging role,” said Dr. Muthukrishnan.  

“I believe airports and REC members have a larger scope to learn and play an important role in managing the opportunities and challenges of aviation environment and sustainability management at airports and also contribute to the overall growth of this sector. To bring excellence into our industry, we require integration of areas such as strategic orientation towards smart airports, social awareness on environmental impacts and communications and capability building in the potential areas of environment and sustainability to all the member airports at all levels. I foresee, as Chair of the REC, there is a great opportunity to enhance the Committee’s progress towards aviation environment and sustainability management in this region with good team work and collaborations with all REC committee members,” he added.  

Mr. Gerald Ng is the Director, Environment and Sustainability of Changi Airport Group, Singapore. He drives enterprise strategy and tangible initiatives for a sustainable Changi aviation hub, including emissions mitigation, climate resilience, green energy, circular economy and sustainable aviation fuels. His team leads sustainability reporting, Airport Carbon Accreditation and implementation of the Environmental Management System for life cycle assessment and ISO 14001. 

“I would like to thank the REC members for electing me as the Vice Chair for 2021-2022.I have benefitted immensely from the in-depth discussions and sharing of knowledge amongst the REC members. I believe that the travel disruptions caused by the global pandemic has made environment and sustainability issues even more important for our respective airport organisations,” said Mr. Gerald Ng.  

“Together with the REC Chair and all the member airports, I therefore hope to work with everyone on meaningful and realistic carbon emissions reduction measures, recognizing that airports will de-carbonize at different paces. I also hope that as a Committee, we continue to share knowledge on climate adaptation measures, and that we increase our engagements with airport stakeholders and major airline partners on important topics such as sustainable aviation fuel,” concluded Mr. Ng.