The airport industrys efforts to address its carbon emissions were highly commended at the annual global International Transport Forum (ITF) Awards announced at this weeks ITF 2014 Annual Summit.
Announcing the results, José Viegas Secretary General of the International Transport Forum* said “The jurycommends Airport Carbon Accreditation as a robust programme that clearly demonstrates widespread and progressive promotion of good practice, and we want to acknowledge the success of the initiative in empowering airports across the globe to reduce their carbon emissions.”
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE, Patti Chau, Regional Director, ACI ASIA-PACIFIC andAliTounsi, Director General, ACI AFRICA commented “We are delighted that Airport Carbon Accreditation has been so highly commended by the ITF. We launched this programme nearly 5 years ago during the worst trading conditions, but our faith was quickly rewarded by solid uptake from airports all around Europe and beyond. This is a fantastic recognition for the 98 airports that are currently certified under the programme - for their on-going work to map, reduce, optimise and ultimately neutralise their carbon emissions.”
They added “As the face of aviation on the ground, airports are fully committed to addressing their carbon footprints – this is also part of being a good neighbour serving the economic & social needs of their communities. AirportCarbonAccreditation frames, supports and incentivises the collective work that airports are doing to make their operations more carbon efficient and their business more sustainable.”
Airport Carbon Accreditation is institutionally-endorsed¹ and has already won praise from ICAO, UNEP, the EU’s Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas and EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard°. Independently administered by leading global sustainability consultancy WSP, it has established itself as the airport industry’s global standard for carbon management.
In Europe, 82 airports in 24 countries are currently certified at one of the 4 available levels of certification (‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’ and ‘Neutrality’), including 14 that are carbon neutral. Combined with the certification of 15 airports in the Asia-Pacific region of ACI and 1 airport in ACI Africa’s region, the programme now comprises 98 certified airports, including some of the best-known and renowned airport brands in the world.
In year 4 of the programme (June 2012 to May 2013), the collective reduction achieved was over 170,000 tonnes of CO2, enough energy to power 71,000 households for a year.
The final results of the CO2 reduction achieved during Year 5 (June 2013 to May 2014) will be announced on 17 June at the 23rd ACI EUROPE Annual Assembly, Congress & Exhibition, which will be hosted by FRAPORT (Frankfurt Airport) - the very first airport to become certified by the programme.