Ahead of this year’s United Nations COP20 Conference Of the Parties on the issue of Climate Change, taking place in Lima in early December, a key development in the airport industry’s efforts to address their carbon emissions, was announced in Cancun this week - on the occasion of the 23rd ACI Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Annual Conference and General Assembly.
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, earlier this week the programme became global in scope, with its extension to airports in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Airport Carbon Accreditation certifies airports at 4 different levels of accreditation (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality). It is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed¹ and has already won praise from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nation Environment Panel (UNEP) and the European Union (EU). In the past twelve months, Airport Carbon Accredited status has been earned by a total of 110 airports in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia-Pacific.**
Puerto Vallarta International Airport (Mexico) has just become the 111th airport in the programme and the first to become certified in Latin-America & Caribbean.
Having already achieved significant results in 5 continents°, the launch of Airport Carbon Accreditation in Latin America & Caribbean (in partnership with ACI-LAC) marks the decisive moment that the programme has become the global standard for carbon management at airports.
At the launch of the programme during the ACI-LAC Annual Conference in Cancun on Tuesday afternoon, Javier Martinez, Director General ACI-LAC commented “As an ambitious industry, we want to do our part to lower our carbon footprint in the global aviation system. It is our privilege to be the bridge that makes Airport Carbon Accreditation a truly global programme from today, and we look forward to being a bigger part of its success in the coming years.”
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented “We are delighted to see Airport Carbon Accreditation become available to members of ACI-LAC today. It’s a big moment for the programme, as it demonstrates the momentum the airport industry’s climate change commitment has gained over the past 7 years and that the demand for this kind of tool is now genuinely global.”
He added “Many industries talk about their commitments. A significant part of the global airport industry is already actively addressing its carbon emissions – and they have mobilised on this, of their accord. They are proactively reporting on their carbon reduction activities every year and the number of airports is constantly growing too. An impressive 1.48 billion air passengers now travel through airports certified at one of the 4 levels of the programme.”
Airport Carbon Accreditation is now live across the world and the 111 airports certified by the programme welcome 25.9% of global air passenger traffic annually.
In addition, airports which have firmly committed to apply in the coming months for certification at one of the 4 levels of the programme include Aéroports de Montreal, Denver International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Portland International Airport in North America, Libreville Airport and Abidjan Airport in Africa and Galapagos Airport and Quito Airport in Latin America & Caribbean.
To find out which airports are certified & their level of certification, visit: http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org/airport/participants.html
Source: Air transport News
