Brussels, 22 June 2016: Following the global airport industry’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions made 8 years ago*, the intervening years since then

have seen a groundswell of airports become part of the industry carbon management initiative, Airport Carbon Accreditation. At this week’s 26^th ACI EUROPE Annual Congress, the airport industry released annual results (June 2015 to May 2016) for the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme’s progress in Europe.

The programme certifies airports at 4 different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (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 Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nation Environment Panel (UNEP) and the European Union (EU).

Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented “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 8^th 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.”

The Global results for Airport Carbon Accreditation, Year 7 will be released at the ACI World & North America Annual General Assemblies in Montreal, Canada at the end of September.

For details of the accredited airports in each world region, visit www.airportCO2.org

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Notes for Editors:

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated that aviation’s total CO₂ emissions account for 2% of global emissions’ impact on climate change. Of that figure, airports’ own operations only account for up to 5%, but airports are keen to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions – several individual airports operators having already committed to becoming carbon neutral in the past few years with some having already achieved this.

*In 2007, the global airport industry committed to reduce its carbon emissions, in a special resolution passed at the ACI WORLD Annual Congress & Assembly.

Airports are at different points on this journey to become cleaner and more efficient. As the centrepoints of a complex web of aircraft movements, technical operations and surface access transport, airports can address their CO2 emissions in a variety of ways. These can include better insulation and energy efficiency, switching to green energy sources, investing in hybrid, electric or gas-powered service vehicles, encouraging employees, passengers & visitors to use public transport, working with airlines & air traffic management to reduce runway taxiing times and implement green landing processes and much more.

°Originally developed and launched by ACI Europe in June 2009, Airport Carbon Accreditation was extended to airports in Asia-Pacific, in November 2011 (in partnership with ACI Asia-Pacific) and to African airports in June 2013, (in partnership with ACI Africa) and North American airports in September 2014 (in partnership with ACI-NA).

¹The programme is administered by leading consultancy WSP and overseen by an independent Advisory Board including representatives from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme), the European Commission, ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference), EUROCONTROL and Manchester Metropolitan University.

²WSP Parsons Brinksdorf is the administrator of Airport Carbon Accreditation. It provides services to transform the built environment and restore the natural environment, and its expertise ranges from environmental remediation to urban planning, from engineering iconic buildings to designing sustainable transport networks, and from developing the energy sources of the future to enabling new ways of extracting essential resources. It has approximately 17,500 employees, mainly engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors as well as various environmental experts and design professionals, based in more than 300 offices, across 30 countries, on 5 continents. www.wspgroup.com

To find out which airports are certified & their level of certification, visit: http://www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org/airport/participants.html

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For more information, contact:

Robert O’Meara, Director, Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE

mobile: +32 (0)486 54 14 71 or tel: +32 (0)2 552 09 82.

Email: robert.omeara@aci-europe.org

ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 500 airports in 45 European countries. In 2014, our member airports handled over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming more than 1.8 billion passengers, 18.4 million tonnes of freight and 21.2 million aircraft movements. These airports contribute to the employment of 12.3 million people, generating €675 billion each year (4.1%) of GDP in Europe.

EVERY FLIGHT BEGINS AT THE AIRPORT.