The end of January marked the first complete month of airlines being subject to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. While there is still some debate ongoing about that, particularly in the media, January was rounded off with some very positive news about aviation reducing its carbon emissions. Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE) released a report on their flagship climate change programme, which has been flourishing throughout Europe since it came into operation in 2009 – Airports Carbon Accreditation.

There are four stages to accreditation, ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’, and the highest standard and ultimate goal for all airports, ‘Neutrality’. January 31 marked a special point in the progress of Airport Carbon Accreditation – the majority of European air passenger traffic, 52%, now passes through Carbon Accredited airports. This equates to a staggering 750 million passengers a year. The actual number of airports in Europe involved in the programme currently stands at 55, with 8 airports in the ‘Neutrality’ phase, 7 in ‘Optimisation’, 19 in ‘Reduction’ and 21 in the ‘Mapping’ stages.

The efforts of the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme have not gone unnoticed by high level officials such as Siim Kallas, the European Commission Vice-President for Transport, who stated “Genuine progress on greening transport and curbing emissions can only occur when the regulator’s work is complemented by citizens and business taking action of their own. Airport Carbon Accreditation is a fine example of this… and is clearly helping to move European aviation onto a more sustainable footing”. Further support from the European Commission also came from Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, who termed the programme’s achievements to date “inspiring”.

The success of Airport Carbon Accreditation programme has not been limited to Europe. On November 30, 2011, the programme was extended to new territory as ACI Asia-Pacific began offering the airports in the region, the opportunity of accreditation by the programme.  Abu Dhabi International Airport has already become accredited and commitments to apply have been forthcoming from Bangalore airport, India and others, in the year ahead.

In terms of equating the European programme to CO₂ saved, the figures illustrate the programme’s success superlatively. The first year of the programme saw 18 accredited airports achieve a reduction of 411,390 tonnes of CO₂, and the second year saw 43 accredited airports achieve a reduction of 729,689 tonnes of CO₂, with the third year results to be revealed at the 22^nd ACI Europe annual congress in Madrid from 20-22 June 2012. As the results show, Airport Carbon Accreditation has shown enormous success in the field of reducing carbon emissions and, with its expansion to the Asia-Pacific in only its third year, has the ability to robustly effect reductions in carbon emissions as airports strive for ‘Neutrality’. As noted by Siim Kallas, progress in curbing emissions comes best from citizens and businesses taking the initiative. Accreditation where accreditation is due, ACI Europe’s work is a programme for the future of sustainable aviation.