FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2015
BRUSSELS, HONG KONG, CASABLANCA, WASHINGTON DC, PANAMA & MONTREAL – Following the global airport industry’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions made 7 years ago*, the intervening years since then have seen a groundswell of airports become part of the industry carbon management initiative, Airport Carbon Accreditation. As the calendar counts down to the climate change negotiations at COP21 in Paris at the end of this year, the airport industry trade body, Airports Council International this week released the annual results for the programme covering the period June 2014 to June 2015 – the very first time since it became the global carbon standard for airports.
The programme certifies airports at 4 different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality). It is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed¹ and has already won praise from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nation Environment Panel (UNEP) and the European Union (EU).
Launching a brand new microsite featuring the key figures from this year’s Annual Report – accessible at www.airportCO2.org – it was revealed that in the past twelve months, Airport Carbon Accredited status has been earned by a total of 125 airports in over 40 countries across the world**, an increase of over 22% on the previous year.
Kevin Burke, President and CEO, ACI-North America and Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World commented “These airports are reporting on their carbon management activities every year and they have mobilised on this of their own accord. And it’s not just the bigger hubs like Dubai, Heathrow, Hong Kong, Paris CDG, Istanbul-Atatürk, Seattle-Tacoma, Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Seoul-Incheon and Schiphol – the programme has certified a huge number of smaller airports like Eindhoven, Enfidha Hammamet, Farnborough, Hat Yai International, Malmö, Portland-Troutdale and Puerto Vallarta. An impressive 1.7 billion passengers now travel through airports certified at one of the 4 levels of the programme – that’s 27.5% of global air passenger traffic. Most promisingly 22 airports advanced up a level of the programme – in the past year, making further progress in the way they manage 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. That’s equivalent to the annual CO2 sequestered by 1,495 acres of forest.”
For details of the accredited airports in each world region, their actions and the difference the programme is making, visit www.airportCO2.org
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated that aviation’s total CO2 emissions account for 2% of global emissions’ impact on climate change. Of that figure, airports’ own operations only account for up to 5%, but airports are keen to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions – several individual airports operators having already committed to becoming carbon neutral in the past few years with some having already achieved this.
*In 2007, the global airport industry committed to reduce its carbon emissions, in a special resolution passed at the ACI WORLD Annual Congress & Assembly.
Airports are at different points on this journey to become cleaner and more efficient. As the centrepoints of a complex web of aircraft movements, technical operations and surface access transport, airports can address their CO2 emissions in a variety of ways. These can include better insulation and energy efficiency, switching to green energy sources, investing in hybrid, electric or gas-powered service vehicles, encouraging employees, passengers & visitors to use public transport, working with airlines & air traffic management to reduce runway taxiing times and implement green landing processes and much more.
°Originally developed and launched by ACI Europe in June 2009, Airport Carbon Accreditation was extended to airports in Asia-Pacific, in November 2011 (in partnership with ACI Asia-Pacific) and to African airports in June 2013, (in partnership with ACI Africa) and North American airports in September 2014 (in partnership with ACI-NA).
¹ The programme is administered by leading consultancy WSP and overseen by an independent Advisory Board including representatives from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme), the European Commission, ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference), EUROCONTROL and Manchester Metropolitan University.
² The administrator of Airport Carbon Accreditation is WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, who have combined and are now one of the world’s leading engineering professional services consulting firms. Together we provide services to transform the built environment and restore the natural environment, and our expertise ranges from environmental remediation to urban planning, from engineering iconic buildings to designing sustainable transport networks, and from developing the energy sources of the future to enabling new ways of extracting essential resources. We have approximately 31,500 employees, including engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors, program and construction management professionals, and various environmental experts. We are based in more than 500 offices across 39 countries worldwide. www.wspgroup.com www.pbworld.com.
To find out which airports are certified & their level of certification, visit:http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org/airport/participants.html
For more information, contact : Robert O’Meara, Director, Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE
email : robert.omeara@aci-europe.org tel : +32 486 54 14 71
