A partnership to cut emissions from airports
and take the industry towards climate neutrality was launched today. The
partnership was signed at COP21 in Paris by the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Airports Council
International (ACI), which developed the
Airport Carbon Accreditation programme.
Emissions
reductions will be achieved through use of energy-efficient lighting,
cooling and heating systems, solar energy, climate-friendly ground
transportation and a wide range of other measures aimed at
climate neutrality.
ACI will support the UNFCCC’s
Climate Neutral Now
initiative, while the UNFCCC secretariat will support airport carbon
accreditation, whereby airports measure, report and reduce their
emissions.
The
two organizations will develop a common work programme and
communications plan promoting carbon neutrality. UNFCCC will join the
advisory board of the
Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, which aims to increase the number of airports graduating to carbon neutral status.
In
the past 12 months, 137 airports worldwide, representing 31 percent of
global passenger traffic have earned ACI’s “airport carbon accredited”
status. There are currently 20 carbon neutral airports. The
partnership announcement follows the commitment by the European airport
industry last week at COP21 to increase the number of carbon neutral
airports to 50 by 2030.
“It
is immensely encouraging to see an industry as visible and
strategically relevant as the airport industry being so proactive on
climate action,” said John Kilani, Director, Sustainable Development
Mechanisms
programme, UNFCCC secretariat. “What ACI has achieved through airport
carbon accreditation over the past six years is inspiring – to mobilize
137 airports in the journey towards carbon neutrality is an example that
many other industries could learn from.”
Angela
Gittens, Director General ACI WORLD and Olivier Jankovec, Director
General ACI EUROPE in a joint statement said “Today is a very big day
for ACI and Airport Carbon Accreditation. To gain the support
of an organization as authoritative as the UNFCCC is something we
consider a major achievement and a genuine recognition of the
contribution of the airport industry to the climate action through
Airport Carbon Accreditation. We are delighted to be partnering
with UNFCCC and look forward to their input in the Advisory Board of
the programme.”
Launched
at Climate Week in New York in September 2015, Climate Neutral Now
encourages countries, industries, organizations and even individuals to
measure their emissions, reduce what they can and offset
the rest with quality certified emission reduction from Clean Development Mechanism projects in developing countries.
The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that aviation
accounts for about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions. Of that figure,
airport operations account for up to 5 percent.
For more information about the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, including key results, visit
www.airportCO2.org and
http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org/airport/participants.html
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