I have seen nice articles from my fellow ambassadors in UAE on the subject of Climate Change mitigation. So I wished to take a different aspect of this topic. I have read that Air travel is one of the most carbon negative activities adding to global warming. UAE has a lot of incoming and outgoing air traffic.

So, at a time when the number of air passengers is increasing, it is essential that more and more airports achieve Airport Carbon Accreditation. This program recognizes and accredits the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions. There are four levels of certification: Mapping, Reduction, Optimization & Neutrality.

 

It is creditable to note that Abudhabi, Sharjah and Dubai Airports have already been accredited in UAE and they have to scale higher levels in the accreditation system.

 

Airport Carbon Accreditation is an independent programme administered by WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international consultancy appointed by ACI EUROPE to enforce the accreditation criteria for airports on an annual basis. The administration of the programme is overseen by an Advisory Board.

 

In November 2011, Airport Carbon Accreditation was extended to Asia-Pacific, in cooperation with ACI Asia-Pacific. In June 2013, the programme was extended to Africa in cooperation with ACI Africa.

 

Airport Carbon Accreditation took off in North America and in November 2014 the programme went global with its extension to airports in Latin America and the Caribbean.

  

Mapping: The Mapping step of Airport Carbon Accreditation requires carbon footprint measurement.

To achieve this level of accreditation, an airport has to determine its operational boundary and the emissions sources within that as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, calculate the annual carbon emissions for the previous year for those sources, compile a carbon footprint report and get it verified by an auditor.