The Leading Airport Magazine

Ahead of the COP21 Conference in Paris in two months’ time, where a new global climate change agreement is supposed to be reached, Inês Rebelo reports on how the airport industry is actively engaged in curbing climate change.

The countdown for the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11) is underway. From 30 November to 11 December 2015, nearly 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from government, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society are expected to participate in COP21. And the event will take place on the site of Paris-Le Bourget Airport.

This event is the most important international climate conference that aims to facilitate consensus on climate negotiations and to make decisions on relevant targets to combat climate change. This year, in particular, the goals are quite ambitious: COP21 aims to achieve, for the first time, a universal, legally binding agreement on climate change, including limiting global warming to below 2°C. The last time there was this much pressure to achieve a resolution was COP16, held in Copenhagen in 2010. It’s no coincidence that this year we find ourselves in Europe again. Europe is a recognised driver of environmental progress.

Climate change has for some time now been a key priority on the radar of the airport industry. The industry has pursued a two-pronged approach – 1. Aiming to reduce its impact on the environment, by lowering its carbon emissions; 2. Aiming to reinforce its resilience to the impact of climate change on airport infrastructure. With this in mind, the past 7 years have seen airports invest in becoming more sustainable and engaging their partners to do the same. Their ultimate goal? Carbon neutrality – a goal that 20 airports in Europe, representing 13.1% of European air passenger traffic, have already successfully attained.

One of the main instruments motivating these actions on climate change is the carbon management standard, Airport Carbon Accreditation, established by ACI EUROPE in 2009 and independently operated by WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international environmental consultancy appointed by ACI EUROPE to enforce the accreditation criteria for airports on an annual basis. In 2013, the programme was selected by the European Union as one of the top 3 initiatives to build a low carbon economy.

So, with climate change now well and truly back on the political agenda, it is perhaps pertinent and very timely that we report on the airport industry’s latest efforts on addressing its carbon emissions under Airport Carbon Accreditation.

Building on its success

A little over six years after its launch in 2009, following the airport industry’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions, the programme is live in all world regions, from Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific to North America and Latin America & Caribbean. What does this mean in practice?

Airports across the world are now collectively more empowered to tackle climate change by adopting Airport Carbon Accreditation as the industry reference standard for mapping, reducing and ultimately neutralising their carbon footprint. The efforts of participating airports on reducing their carbon emissions are measured in accordance with the World Resources Institute GHG Protocol and their emissions inventory are verified each year by an independent third party, according to four different progressive levels of accreditation: Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality. Each of these levels determines the stage at which airports are in their attempt to reduce their carbon emissions.

If the global scope of the programme shows the relevance it has managed to gain since its origins, figures also constitute a meaningful barometer of its ongoing success. As it is mentioned in the full Airport Carbon Accreditation Annual Report 2014-2015 at the end of June 2015 (end of Year 6 of the programme), 125 airports in over 40 countries across the world earned the Airport Carbon Accredited status – an increase of over 22% on the previous year. And it’s worth bearing in mind that last year 1.7 billion passengers travelled through these 125 airports.

In the past year, 24 airports managed to become Airport Carbon Accredited for the first time and 22 airports successfully moved up a level of the programme, proving that they are making further progress on the way they address their carbon emissions. In the past year, these airports have succeeded in reducing the CO2 emissions under their direct control by 212,460 tonnes of CO2.

A growing number of airports are eager to take the lead on implementing best practice carbon management processes. This is visible in the past three months with the increase in the number of accredited airports. Since June 2015, when there were 125 certified airports, as aforementioned, 4 new airports have joined Airport Carbon Accreditation: 3 Latin American airports (Galapagos Ecological Airport, Quito International Airport and Tijuana International Airport, Level 1 Mapping) and 1 North American airport (Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Level 3 Optimisation). As such, a total of 129 airports are now certified by the programme, which translates into 92 currently certified airports in Europe, 25 in Asia-Pacific, 7 in North America, 4 in the Latin America & Caribbean region, and 1 in Africa.

There is no doubt that Airport Carbon Accreditation keeps gaining momentum and has become a key instrument of global airports’ sustainability strategy. It continues to win endorsement and support from key institutional bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations Environment Panel (UNEP), the European Commission (EC), the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL), the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In recognition of the importance of the programme, EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, said: “With substantial CO2 reductions achieved already, Airport Carbon Accreditation is a fine example of industry-led action that is helping move aviation onto a more sustainable footing.”

The EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, has already recognised the airport industry’s engagement in curbing carbon emissions: “It is reassuring to see an industry as visible and strategically relevant as the airport industry proactively addressing its carbon emissions. By allowing airports to work their way through 4 levels of certification, Airport Carbon Accreditation bridges their individual efforts and their collective achievement as an industry.”

From regional to Global

Airport Carbon Accreditation has seen a rapid and solid evolution over the past 6 years as a result of the airport industry’s commitment to carbon emissions reduction. Its progressive extension to airports in the different ACI regions culminated in a historic milestone last year: The programme has attained global status, showing that airports are effectively working together across the globe to increase sustainability.

2009 marks the beginning of the story when Airport Carbon Accreditation was launched in Europe. In November 2011, it was extended to airports in the Asia-Pacific region where Abu Dhabi International Airport became the first certified airport at Level 1 Mapping. Two years later, the programme lifted off in Africa where Enfidha Hammamet International Airport, in Tunisia, is setting the example to its African counterparts: The airport joined the programme at Level 1 Mapping but upgraded to Level 2 Reduction last year, proving that it is making further progress on reducing its carbon emissions.

Another milestone was achieved in September 2014: Airport Carbon Accreditation was extended to airports in North America with the accreditation of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at Level 2 Reduction. Just a little more than a year after the launch of the programme in this region, a total of 7 airports have already been certified.

The programme took the decisive step in becoming the global standard for carbon management at airports when it took off in Latin America & Caribbean in November 2014 with the accreditation of Puerto Vallarta International Airport at Level 1 Mapping. In the meantime, this airport has successfully reached Level 2 Reduction. To date, 4 Latin American airports have gained the Airport Carbon Accredited status, showing that participation keeps growing steadily in this region.

The global presence of Airport Carbon Accreditation is now represented by 129 airports that correspond to nearly one-third of global passenger air traffic.

How airports are reducing their CO2

Airport Carbon Accreditation is empowering airports to address their carbon emissions and airports are testing new and innovative ways to reduce their impact on climate change. As the majority of carbon emissions at an airport come from energy use, from fuel burnt in boilers, generators and vehicles and power imported from external sources, airports are putting focus on carbon emissions reductions delivered through energy consumption reduction, as illustrated by the examples below.

In an attempt to become more energy-efficient, London City Airport has installed solar-powered lighting systems at runway entry points that provide a 24-hour LED warning system. The units can run for 120 days without re-charging.

In the case of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the airport deployed 35 electric buses that are charged with their own solar panels. The buses, which transport passengers from terminals to aircraft, are supposed to improve the airport’s air quality in addition to reducing its CO2 emissions. Also, Schiphol has recently streamlined its cargo operations via the ‘Milk Run’ concept, a system that aims to consolidate multiple inbound trips into a single delivery from the handling agent to several forwarders’ facilities. This means that fewer trucks at and around the airport are needed, which is already a reality: The number of trucks used has been reduced by 30% so far.

At Dublin Airport, daa is investing in new lighting and revised Air Handling Units (AHUs, which control ventilation and air conditioning). Overall, these two projects will save over 1GWh of electrical energy per annum, enough to power 750,000 homes for a year.

Another two good examples in Europe are Helsinki Airport and Budapest Airport. The former improved lighting at its car park P5 by replacing 2,100 old light fixtures with Philips LED lighting, controlled by means of motion sensors. As a result, energy consumption decreased by 85%. The latter, amongst other things, renovated the airfield ground lighting systems of the runways. It also installed a system of solar collectors on the roof of Terminal 1, which is able to provide hot water for the entire terminal.

In North America, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reduced total terminal electricity consumption by 7% in recent years. This was done by converting constant volume air handlers to variable volume, upgrading to more efficient lighting and escalators, optimising chiller sequencing, and main terminal airside heat recovery.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Sydney Airport is investing $128 million in airfield and terminal infrastructure to accommodate fuel-efficient aircraft and it introduced a new lighting system in the T2 car park, which reduced energy usage there by 30%.

These are just a few examples of the environmentally friendly endeavours that airports are making to address their carbon footprint, but they are representative of how the airport industry is proactively contributing to the decarbonisation of the environment. Ahead of the COP21 conference in Paris in two months’ time, the airport industry is sending a clear and credible signal to environmentalists, world leaders and to the whole society that it is taking seriously the role it plays in fighting climate change.

The EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, has already recognised the airport industry’s engagement in curbing carbon emissions: “It is reassuring to see an industry as visible and strategically relevant as the airport industry proactively addressing its carbon emissions. By allowing airports to work their way through 4 levels of certification, Airport Carbon Accreditation bridges their individual efforts and their collective achievement as an industry. With airports playing host to so many other companies, the past 6 years have shown that the programme is also having a halo effect on them, as airlines, air traffic controllers, retailers, passengers and surface transport also get involved to lower their CO2 emissions on the airport site. I congratulate ACI on the momentum they have achieved with this – bringing an industry-led climate change initiative which began here in Europe all the way to becoming the global standard.”

Such recognition comes at a time when Cañete and world leaders are preparing the global climate talks in Paris, which aims to adopt a new global climate change agreement. In August 2015, Cañete urged world leaders to come forward with plans for a deal that should include a five-year emission target renewal and a long-term goal to collectively reduce global emissions by at least 60% by 2050 and be near zero or below by 2100. This is meant to achieve carbon emissions reduction and to meet the target of keeping the global temperature rise under the 2ºC threshold. On 18 September 2015, EU Ministers adopted the COP21 position and promised to reduce emissions by at least 40% compared to 1990 levels, as well as to pursue emission target reviews every five years.

While we are waiting for a new agreement in Paris, airports will keep doing their part and advancing with their actions to become more and more sustainable.