ACI Europe has announced that 130 airports across the five continents have become certified under Airport Carbon Accreditation, the global carbon management standard for the airport business. These airports welcome over 29% of global air passenger traffic.
Speaking ahead of the COP21 climate negotiations – which are due to start in November in Paris – EU commissioner for climate action and energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, praised the airport industry’s engagement in curbing carbon emissions, stating, “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 four 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 six years have shown that the program 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.”
In North America, just one year on from the program launch there, there are now eight airports certified. The two most recent certifications are Denver International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), both very prominent US airports, with cumulative traffic of over 100 million passengers a year. DFW is the very first US airport to achieve certification at Level 3 Optimisation, having successfully reduced its own CO2 emissions and engaged its local partners on the airport site to do the same.
Meanwhile in Europe, in the past three months, Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport in Italy and Ljubljana Airport in Slovenia, have moved up a level of certification to Level 2 Reduction, having proven they have achieved carbon reduction.
Sydney Airport and four airports in the Airports of Thailand group in Thailand have also succeeded in progressing to ‘Level 2 Reduction’. These developments are in addition to renewal certifications of airports in Belgium, Croatia, France, Sweden, Italy and Turkey. Europe now counts 92 certified airports, while Asia-Pacific has 25 certified.
In Latin America, just nine months on from the program launch there, there are now four airports certified. The three most recent certifications are Quito International Airport, Tijuana International Airport and Galapagos Ecological Airport. In parallel, the first airport to become certified, Puerto Vallarta International Airport has succeeded in moving up to Level 2 Reduction.
Airports which have firmly committed to apply in the coming months for certification at one of the four levels of the program include Honolulu airport and San Francisco International Airport in North America as well as Libreville Airport and Abidjan Airport in Africa.
The Airport Carbon Accreditation program certifies airports at four different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality). It is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed and has already won praise from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nation Environment Panel (UNEP) and the European Union (EU), the US FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and many others.