Airport association ACI EUROPE has announced the winners of its Best Airport awards, with Avinor’s Oslo Airport winning the Eco-Innovation Award from the independent Advisory Board of the carbon management program, Airport Carbon Accreditation.
“The judges were particularly impressed by the pioneering and innovative Oslo Airport’s project of setting up a regular supply of bio jetfuel to all the customer airlines, since January 2016, making it the first airport in the world to offer this service through the normal supply mechanism,” ACI EUROPE explains.
“The judges noted how this project, based on a close collaboration between the airport, airlines and other partners, should be an example to be followed in other projects aiming at reducing the environmental footprint at airports overall. It should also be added that through its project, Oslo and its partners contribute to the overall sustainability industry goals as defined by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), in particular carbon neutral growth as of 2020 and reducing CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050,” ACI EUROPE adds.
“Oslo Airport was also selected for its exemplary overall environmental performance, which is reflected on its certification at Level 3+ Neutrality of Airport Carbon Accreditation—the highest level of the programme.”
The awards were announced during the Gala Dinner of the 26th ACI EUROPE General Assembly, Congress & Exhibition, in Athens on Tuesday night.
Europe Leads the World in Airport Sustainability
In the eight years since the global airport industry committed to reducing its carbon emissions, Europe’s airports have taken an active role in the implementation of environmental initiatives leading their global peers in progress towards more sustainable airport infrastructure.
During the 26th ACI EUROPE Annual Congress, Olivier Jankovec, Director General of the airport industry group, commended Europe’s airports on annual results (June 2016 to May 2016) showing the great progress Europe’s airports have made in the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme.
“I am delighted to see that Europe continues to lead the way, with 107 airports. These airports certified in the past year achieved a reduction of 146,118 tonnes of CO2—enough to power nearly 61,000 households for a year. We now have 22 airports that are carbon neutral (Level 3+) and an additional 21 are certified for ‘Optimisation’ (Level 3)—the highest level possible without using offsets.”
He added, “The programme is now entering its 8th year here in Europe and it is reassuring to see the continued level of engagement by airports, as they continue to seek out new efficiencies and invest in cleaner technology to identify new ways to lower their CO2.”
Dr Grant Kirkman of the UNFCCC—who is also on independent Advisory Board of the programme—commented:
“It’s always good to see an industry being proactive of its own accord, but it’s even more impressive when those involved express and show real ambition in their activities. Through their commitment to carbon neutrality and concrete climate action, airports demonstrate their contribution towards the achievement of the Paris agreement and the UNFCCC recognises Airport Carbon Accreditation as a robust framework for this contribution.”
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