Why

The whole of humanity is coming to terms with the issue of climate change, and the role of carbon emissions as a cause. Airport Carbon Accreditation is the European airport industry’s response.

Energy generation, industrial manufacturing processes, domestic energy consumption and transport are amongst the human activities that contribute the most to carbon emissions. According to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001), aviation contributes to 2% of global manmade CO₂ emissions. It is estimated that airport activities account for up to 5% of total aviation emissions.

Along with other aviation industry stakeholders, European airports are seeking to address the challenge of climate change and have developed a wide range of activities to reduce carbon emissions linked to airport operations. These emissions are mainly stemming from energy use in airport buildings and infrastructure, transport to/from airports, airside vehicles, aircraft ground movements and energy consumption and refrigerants.

By providing airports with a common framework for active carbon management with measurable goal-posts, Airport Carbon Accreditation assesses and recognises efforts to manage and reduce carbon emissions from airport operations. Performance recognition is ensured with four levels of accreditation: mapping, reduction, optimisation and neutrality.

Airport Carbon Accreditation acknowledges that airports are at a number of different points on a journey towards comprehensive carbon management and carbon neutrality. The step-by-step process encourages airports to reduce their carbon emissions with the ultimate goal of carbon neutral operations.