FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2014
ATLANTA – Following the global airport industry’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions made 7 years ago* and the European launch in 2009 of the carbon management standard Airport Carbon Accreditation, last night saw a major development in carbon management for airports in North America.
A ceremony took place yesterday evening at the 2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition of ACI-North America (ACI-NA) in Atlanta, in the presence of more than 1,600 aviation experts, to mark the launch of Airport Carbon Accreditation in North America, in cooperation with ACI-NA.
The institutionally endorsed¹ program independently assesses² and recognizes airports’ efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions. It certifies airports at 4 different levels of accreditation (Mapping, Reduction, Optimization and Neutrality). In the past twelve months, Airport Carbon Accredited status has been earned by a total of 107 airports in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.**
Having already achieved significant results in Europe, Africa & Asia-Pacific, the launch of the program in North America is a decisive step in the establishment of Airport Carbon Accreditation as the global standard for carbon management at airports.
Kevin M. Burke, President & CEO of ACI-NA commented “Today’s launch of Airport Carbon Accreditation here in North America shows that our airport industry has become more demanding of itself. The success of the program in other parts of the world is both an inspiration and a challenge.”
The launch ceremony also saw Seattle-Tacoma International Airport become the very first airport in North America to achieve certification within the program.
He added “As an ambitious industry, we want to do our part to lower our carbon footprint and become better partners in the global aviation system. I congratulate Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on being the first to achieve certification in North America, leading the way for many others. I also applaud the other North American airports who have committed to becoming early adopters of Airport Carbon Accreditation, including
Aéroports de Montréal, Denver International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Portland International Airport.”
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE, Patti Chau, Regional Director ACI Asia-Pacific and Ali Tounsi, Regional Director ACI Africa commented “We are delighted to see Airport Carbon Accreditation become available to North American airports today. It’s a big moment for the program, as it demonstrates the momentum the airport industry’s environmental commitment has gained over the past 7 years and the demand for this kind of tool in the North American market.”
They added “Many industries talk about their commitments. We are getting on with the job and delivering genuine, independently-verified carbon reduction year-on-year. We applaud Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s certification as the pioneering airport in North America and look forward to seeing others apply for certification at one of the 4 levels of the program.”
“This is a significant step to be recognized world-wide for the environmental stewardship programs we have instituted at Sea-Tac Airport,” said Port of Seattle Commission Co-President Stephanie Bowman. “Next year we expect to go even further in the certification as part of our Century Agenda goal to reduce aircraft-related emissions by 25 percent at Sea-Tac and 50 percent overall at the Port of Seattle.”
Airport Carbon Accreditation is now live in 5 continents and the 108 airports certified by the program welcome 24.2% of global passenger traffic annually.
___________________________
Photos from yesterday’s ceremony are available http://www.epnac.com/Client-images/ACI/2014-ACI-NA-Annual-Conference-An/Sept-07-Sunday/Media/n-Qp93d/.
Notes for Editors:
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated that aviation’s total CO2emissions account for 2% of global emissions’ impact on climate change. Of that figure, airports’ own operations only account for up to 5%, but European 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 centerpoints 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 launched by ACI EUROPE in June 2009, the program was extended to airports in the Asia-Pacific region of ACI, in November 2011 (in partnership with ACI Asia-Pacific and the Africa region of ACI in June 2012, in partnership with ACI Africa).
¹The program 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.
²WSP is the administrator of Airport Carbon Accreditation. It is one of the world’s leading professional services firms, working with governments, businesses, architects and planners and providing integrated solutions across many disciplines. The firm provides services to transform the built environment and restore the natural environment, and its 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. It has approximately 17,000 employees, mainly engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors as well as various environmental experts and design professionals, based in more than 300 offices, across 30 countries, on 5 continents. www.wspgroup.com
**For full details of the levels of accreditation of the 102 airports certified between June 2013 and May 2014, please see Pages 43 to 46 of the Airport Carbon Accreditation – Annual Report 2013-2014, downloadable here. This past year alone, the collective efforts of European airports in the program yielded a net reduction of 353,842 tonnes of CO2, enough to power 147,781 households for a year.
In the past year, the program has been selected as of the Top 3 low carbon initiatives for Europe, in the European Commission’s World You Like Contest and also been highly commended at the OECD International Transport Forum’s Transport Achievement Awards. It is currently nominated for the ‘Best Aviation Program for Carbon Reduction’ Prize at this year’s World Responsible Tourism Awards.
For more information on the program:
Website: http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org
For more information, please contact:
Robert O’Meara, Director of Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE
mobile: +32 (0)486 54 14 71 or tel: +32 (0)2 552 09 82
email: robert.omeara@aci-europe.org
ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 450 airports in 44 European countries. Member airports handle 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming over 1.6 billion passengers each year.
For more information on ACI-NA, please contact:
Scott Elmore, Vice President, Communications & Marketing, ACI-NA
mobile: +1(301) 676-3304
email: selmore@aci-na.org
Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) represents local, regional, and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada. ACI-NA member airports enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all the international airline passenger and cargo traffic in North America. Approximately 380 aviation-related businesses are also members of ACI-NA, providing goods and services to airports. Collectively, U.S. airports employ nearly 1.2 million people and account for $1.1 trillion in economic activity—or six percent of the total U.S. workforce and seven percent of GDP. Canadian airports support 405,000 jobs and contribute C$35 billion to Canada’s GDP.
For more information on ACI Asia-Pacific, visit: www.aci-asiapac.aero
For more information on ACI Africa, visit: www.aci-africa.aero
