BRUSSELS - At this year’s ACI Europe & World Annual General Assembly (WAGA) taking place in Brussels, the European region of ACI today announced 4 new carbon neutral airports in Europe and issued an update on the progress it has been making in addressing its CO2 emissions, through the independent and voluntary global certification programme, Airport Carbon Accreditation.
Reaching carbon neutrality under Airport Carbon Accreditation means that an airport has reduced the emissions under its direct control (Scope 1 & 2) as much as it was possible and has offset the remaining residual emissions.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI Europe commented “We are very excited to announce the certification of 4 new carbon neutral airports in 3 European countries today. In total, we now have 133 airports participating in Airport Carbon Accreditation. These airports welcome over 65% of European air passenger traffic. From June 2017 to May 2018, accredited airports in Europe succeeded in collectively reducing the CO2 emissions under their direct control by 163,277 tonnes of CO2 - a reduction of 7.6%.”
The latest European airports to become carbon neutral at the dedicated Airport Carbon Accreditation ceremony during this year’s WAGA in Brussels were:
- Brussels Airport - having joined the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme in 2010, it has invested significantly across the range of its emissions sources and implemented a comprehensive sustainability strategy – gradually ascending the levels of the programme to become carbon neutral today.
- London Stansted - the airport joined its MAG siblings Manchester and East Midlands in becoming carbon neutral, making it the first carbon neutral airport group in the UK.
- Rome Ciampino - as the second airport operated by Aeroporti di Roma (ADR), Ciampino joined Rome Fiumicino in becoming carbon neutral as well.
- Treviso - the Italian regional airport - also received its Level 3+ Neutrality certificate.
The European airport industry last year committed to have 100 carbon neutral airports by 2030. These latest additions bring the list of carbon neutral airports in Europe to 34.
Niclas Svenningsen, who heads the Climate Neutral Now initiative at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Bonn, Germany commented “It is heartening to see the momentum of Europe’s airport industry towards delivering on their pledge to have 100 carbon neutral airports in Europe by 2030. With the addition of Brussels, London Stansted, Rome Ciampino and Treviso today, they are now a third of the way there – all through voluntary action by airport operators. At the UNFCCC, we regularly underline that genuine progress on climate action relies on a proactive approach by industry and society at large, not just governments. Airports are one part of the air transport supply chain, but their example is powerful. I congratulate today’s newly certified carbon neutral airports and urge others to consider what they can do to be the next ones.”
With 4 different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality), Airport Carbon Accreditation is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed? and has the support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Commission (EC).
