|
Airport Carbon Accreditation passed the Year 3 milestone since the last issue of Airport Carbon Accreditation News, and what a year it has been! There have been a whole host of positive stories coming from Airport Carbon Accreditation and this issue of our dedicated e-newsletter takes you through some of the latest developments.
First, we bring you up to speed on the latest (big!) changes to the programme over the last few months. Secondly, we highlight the latest accreditations over the past months. The very special achievement of one of the earliest supporters of Airport Carbon Accreditation is highlighted. We then move on to our usual 'Perspective' interview - this time with Jane Hupe, Chief of the Environment Branch at ICAO. We then conclude with a look at the issue of airports and biofuel production. 
|
|
Airport Carbon Accreditation Evolution
| |
There have been many highlights since we last brought you Airport Carbon Accreditation News, as the programme continues to go from strength to strength.
Chief amongst these was the extension of the programme to Asia-Pacific, in partnership with ACI Asia-Pacific. The announcement - made at the ACI Airport Exchange event in Dubai in late 2011 - has been backed by action, with a selection of significant Asia-Pacific airports already becoming accredited. These include Abu Dhabi, Changi and Mumbai Airports at the 'Mapping' level and Bengaluru International and Delhi Airport at the 'Reduction' level.
 | |
Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE; Declan Collier, President ACI EUROPE and Chief Executive of London City Airport; Kosaburo Morinaka, ACI Asia-Pacific Vice President & President & CEO of Narita International Airport; Patti Chau, Regional Director, ACI Asia-Pacific
|
ICAO Support
 Alongside this, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) lent its support to the programme - another
significant step on the road to Airport Carbon Accreditation becoming the global carbon standard for airports.
ICAO has also appointed a focal point to liaise with the programme. See below for an interview with that very same focal point!
New Rule for Airport Carbon Accreditation Participants
There has been an amendment to Airport Carbon Accreditation, to better tailor the programme to the needs of its participants. Now airports accredited at 'Optimisation' level and above may renew their accreditation, subject to strict conditions, on a 3 year basis, rather than the current 1 year duration. This means that these airports can focus more of their resources on maintaining and improving their accreditation, without incurring additional associated administrative costs.
|
|
Year 3 Results
|
 | |
Lye Teck Tan, Executive Vice President Corporate Changi Airport, Loveleen Kumar Garg, Assistant General Manager - Corporate Environment & Sustainability Mumbai Airport, Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid, President ACI Asia Pacific & Managing Director Malaysia Airports, Patti Chau, Director General ACI Asia Pacific, Hari Kumar, Vice President Engineering & Maintenance Bangalore Airport, Sandeep Chaudhari, Dy. General Manager - Power Systems and Utilities Bangalore Airport
|
The first half of 2012 has seen a wave of new accreditations (including the aforementioned 5 airports in Asia-Pacific), to say nothing of the many upgrades and renewals which have also taken place.
At 'Neutrality', a number of prominent airports in Sweden, Norway and Milan (Italy) successfully renewed their carbon neutrality status. New entrants Malmö and Åre Östersund Airports all became carbon neutral in Year 3.
The programme also saw Spain join the party with Madrid-Barajas Airport entering the programme at 'Reduction' level. It was joined by Bologna, Cork, Dublin and Eindhoven Airports, which all succeeded in upgrading their accreditation. Finland was particularly well represented here, with Helsinki Airport and the 6 airports of the Lapland Airport Group all reaching 'Reduction' level too.
At the 'Mapping' level, Barcelona El Prat and Lanzarote Airports became accredited for the first time, alongside other newcomers Liege, Warsaw Chopin and Dusseldorf Airports.
Year 3 concluded with the news of 59 accredited airports in Europe, representing 52% of European passenger traffic. As a result emissions has been reduced by 414,128 tonnes of CO2. This figure was reached thanks the wide range of new entrants and upgraded participants throughout the year.
The 2011-2012 Annual Report can be downloaded here.
 | |
Fernando Echegaray, Director Network Airports Aena Aeropuertos, Sonia Corrochano, Director Barcelona Airport, Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE and Miguel Ángel Oleaga, Director Madrid-Barajas Airport
|
Year 4... Latest Accreditations
Since June, Year 4 has gotten off to a flying start too, with a host of new accreditations.
Swedavia continue to forge ahead with their goal of attaining 'Neutrality' across all 10 airports in the group. Alongside successful renewal of its previously accredited airports, Year 4 has so far seen Ronneby, Visby and Luleå entering the programme at 'Neutrality' level, and it looks like the full group will be accredited very soon.
Meanwhile, a number of airports have moved up from 'Reduction' to 'Optimisation', including Antalya in Turkey and Charles de Gaulle and Orly Airports in France. These are the now the highest accredited airports in their respective countries.
We are also delighted to report that more airports are achieving the 'Reduction' level, including new entrant Le Bourget (Paris) and a successful upgrade by Prague Airport.
Finally, congratulations to several new entrants to the programme which have become accredited at the 'Mapping' level - Dresden, Leipzig and Zagreb Airports.
Watch out for more news of accreditations in Asia-Pacific and Europe in the months ahead.
|
|
Manchester Airport Wins Eco-Innovation Award
| |
Manchester Airport was recently awarded the much coveted ACI EUROPE Eco-Innovation Award, as part of the 8th ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards, during the 22nd ACI EUROPE Annual Assembly in Madrid. Judged by the independent Advisory Board of Airport Carbon Accreditation, and presented at a glitzy ceremony, the Eco-Innovation Award requires airports to demonstrate how they employ best practice in addressing their environmental impact, across a number of different fields.
 | | Manchester Airport's Dr. Tim Walmsley is presented with the Eco-Innovation gong by EUROCONTROL Director General David McMillan |
Amongst all the candidates Manchester Airport was selected, in recognition of its passion for environmental innovation. Crucially the airport has worked to secure buy-in from not only a wide range of external stakeholders, but also from internal stakeholders, with staff at all levels appreciating the importance of environmental issues. This ground work has helped ensure that the airport's enthusiasm for environmental innovation can be successfully transformed into solid action.
To get a taste of what it takes to be an Eco-Innovation Award winner, check out the Environmental section of Manchester Airport's website!
|
|
Perspective: Jane Hupe, ICAO
| |
Jane Hupe is Chief of the Environmental Branch of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Airport Carbon Accreditation News took some time out to discuss developments in the field of aviation and the environment.
In this regard Airport Carbon Accreditation is a significant initiative by airports for meaningful and measurable action in addressing their greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore we are pleased to support the programme as an observer.
Airport Carbon Accreditation recently spread its wings beyond Europe, and has been formally adopted in the Asia Pacific region. Of course, this is not the only aviation environmental initiative being exported from Europe at the moment - after your attendance at Rio+20, what are your expectations for the future of aviation within the EU's ETS scheme? Do you envisage an amiable resolution to the current debate?
Given the success of ACI's programme in Europe, we were very pleased that it was extended to the Asia-Pacific region and indeed look forward to it becoming a world-wide initiative in the near future.
A global industry such as international aviation needs a global approach to market based measures. ICAO is working diligently on this direction, together with its 191 contracting States. There is general agreement among Member states that ICAO is the best forum for tackling environmental issues linked to international aviation and for developing a global approach for market-based measures. ICAO is continuing to work very actively with all its Member States - including European countries - towards a global solution.
As we have been participating as observers in the programme for only a short time, it seems premature to comment on lessons learned, however, many improvements on methodologies used in the programme are under consideration and that in itself - allied with the growing interest from airports in other regions - is a clear sign of progress.
Finally, the ICAO Secretary General recently flew to Rio+20 via a series of biofueled-flights. How big a part can we expect biofuel to have in the future of aviation, and what will the role of airports be within this?
ICAO, with the support of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), launched a special Rio+20 global initiative "Flightpath to a Sustainable Future", consisting of the first-ever series of connecting flights powered by sustainable alternative fuels, on which ICAO Secretary General, Mr. Raymond Benjamin, traveled from Montréal to Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
The journey began at Montréal Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport aboard a Bombardier Q400 flown by Porter Airlines and powered by a camelina blend. From Toronto the next leg was with Air Canada using an Airbus A319 using a cooking-oil based fuel supplied by SkyNRG to Mexico City, where a Boeing 777-200 flown by Aeroméxico and powered by an ASA-supplied jet fuel using camelina, jatropha and used cooking oil flew to São Paulo in Brazil. The final leg of the pioneering journey involved GOL Airlines aboard a Boeing 737-800 from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, using fuel derived from inedible corn oil and used cooking oil, supplied by UOP Honeywell.
With this ICAO initiative, we demonstrated the power of national authorities, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, air navigation service providers, fuel suppliers and other stakeholders working together to make this world-first series of biofuel flights possible. The support of ACI and various airport authorities was vital to the success of the initiative.
While many airlines are now operating regular commercial flights using sustainable alternative fuels, availability of biofuel feedstock remains a major obstacle to more widespread use. Aviation stakeholders are concerned about competition from other transport modes for biofuels, which could limit the sector's ability to grow in a sustainable manner over the long-term. There is a desire among States, industry and other organizations to see a significant scale up of biofuel production, although they want to be sure that biofuels do not compete with food supplies and that they are truly sustainable in that they actually reduce CO2 emissions. As a result, ICAO is developing policy recommendations to promote and further facilitate the development and deployment of these fuels. This may include harmonization of sustainability criteria and regulatory policies. Policies and incentives need to be targeted to specific barriers to enhance production efficiency, ensure global consistency, reduce investment risk, and confirm workable certification and qualification programs.
Sustainable alternative fuels are expected to play an important role in reducing the net CO2 footprint from aviation, but they are not the only solution. They are one of a number of solutions that include technological improvements, operational changes and market based measures.
|
|
|
Airports & Biofuel Production
| As seen in the above interview, biofuel is clearly a key tool as aviation continues its move towards a more sustainable future.
But what role will airports play within this development?
Quite a big one in fact!
Airport Business magazine recently covered some of the initiatives which a sample of European airport operators are taking in this field (all of which are managing Airport Carbon Accredited airports!)
Norwegian operator Avinor is undertaking a study with industry partners, into the commercially viable production of biofuel. Spanish operator Aena is undertaking a biofuel production project of its own, at Madrid-Barajas Airport. Meanwhile, Hamburg Airport is using bio methane to power its baggage trucks and passenger buses.
Biofuel has not been without controversy - and so airports are investing significant effort to ensuring that any outcome is truly sustainable. For this reason more sustainable second-generation biofuels are being explored.
You can read the article in full, here.
|
|
|
|
