4 AAI airports awarded for cutting carbon emissions

New Delhi: Four of AAI (Airports Authority of India) airports in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Varanasi and Trivandrum have been awarded on Wednesday for reducing carbon emissions. "Airports Council International (ACI), a non-profit organisation representing the world's airports has announced that four AAI airports — Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata; Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar; Lal Bhadaur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi and Trivandrum International Airport have met all the necessary requirements to upgrade to Level 2: "REDUCTION" by constituting Carbon Management Plan and reducing the carbon emissions at airports as per the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Programme," AAI said in a press release.

AAI implementing carbon management at 4 airports

In line with national as well as global climate change initiatives, AAI has initiated carbon management programme at four of these airports with an objective of ensuring sustainable development of the aviation industry.

Airports can participate at 04 progressively level of accreditation – Level 1: Mapping, Level 2: Reduction, Level 3: Optimisation, Level 3+: Neutrality. Carbon mapping occurs when the airport has policy commitment to emissions reduction and development of a Carbon Footprint for the airport's scope-1 and scope-2 emissions, which are under its control. Carbon reduction occurs when the airport shows the reduction in carbon emissions as compared to base year. AAI had achieved Level-1 accreditation during December, 2018 for these four airports and has upgraded now to next level of accreditation i.e.  Level 2: Reduction, the release added.

The backdrop

"The Airports Authority of India (AAI) being the sole Air Navigation Service (ANS) provider and operator of Airports across the country is consistently endeavouring with all required programmes and SOPs to meet the commitment for reduction of carbon emissions and sustainable development by implementing cost effective carbon mitigation action to conserve environment and reduce adverse impact on society, community and ecosystem, thus contributing to national sustainable development goals," the release said.

The Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme has been developed and launched by Airport Council International (ACI). It is the voluntary Global Carbon Management Standard for airports. The aim of airport accreditation is to encourage and enable airports to implement best practices in carbon management, with the ultimate objective of becoming carbon neutral. Airport Carbon Accreditation is developed in line with GHG Protocol and ISO 14064 principles.