AIRPORT VOICE, JULY 2019 7
Airports move to
sustainability
Addressing Paris Climate Change’
BY FELIPE A. RODRIGUEZ,
MBA, MPA, CM
Last month I wrote an article
discussing the innovations of Airport
sustainability, (Airport Sustainability
Innovations- June Issue)
are the different programs
that recognize not only the efforts
but also provides guidance… The
overall sustainability objective is
for airports here in the U.S. is to
cut its carbon footprint altogether.
JFK, EWR, and LGA fall right into
that category. They are involved
and setting goals for themselves
and trying to diminish their overall
carbon footprint (kudos). This
goal of course is not going to happen
overnight, it is a process, long
term planning along with strategic
planning. Everyone is involved including
the airport sponsor (Airport
Owner). In this case it would
be the Port Authority of NY / NJ
(PANYNJ).
Now that I have identifi ed what
has to be done let’s revisit one of
the programs that can assist in this
process and accomplish this goal,
The Airport Carbon Accreditation
Program. In my last article this program
helps guide airports throughout
the world on how to cut down if
not diminish their carbon footprint
altogether.
We looked at it from an airport
perspective, lets look at it from an
international perspective meaning
countries around the world. I
am referring to The Paris Climate
Agreement. The Agreement is a
milestone when it comes to environmental
policies and sustainability.
This agreement which was
open for signature on April 22, 2016
(Earth Day) takes the world from
a macro perspective, meaning it
provides guidance in decreasing
if not overall eliminating the carbon
footprint for all industries by
addressing key areas for those to
benchmark. A few examples would
be;
• long term temperature goals,
• Global peaking and climate
neutrality,
• mitigation,
• sinks and reservoirs,
• transparency, implementation
and compliance.
The overall objective is for
the Paris Agreement to provide
strength and guidance to understand
as well as recognize the
severe threat of climate change
by setting certain goals such as
keeping temperature levels low,
below 2 degrees Celsius and not
going any higher than 1.5 degrees
Celsius (based on an industry’s
level).
“Additionally, the agreement
aims to increase the ability of
countries to deal with the impacts
of climate change, and at making
fi nance fl ows consistent with
a low GHG emissions and climateresilient
pathway. To reach these
ambitious goals, appropriate mobilization
and provision of fi nancial
resources, a new technology
framework and enhanced capacitybuilding
is to be put in place, thus
supporting action by developing
countries and the most vulnerable
countries, in line with their own
national objectives”.
This is what the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) is stipulating.
It is a domino effect, which begins
from understanding the impacts of
climate change, leading to fi nancial
fl ows/constraints, to more effi cient
technology for developed, developing
and vulnerable countries. In
other words, everyone must get involved,
certain pieces need to come
together.
When comparing the two entities,
it all comes together. The U.N.
wanted to set international standards
as an example for other industries
as the world to possibly
benchmark. The Airport Carbon
Accreditation Program, in a micro
view geared towards airports
is doing that very thing. It is setting
standards for airports around
the world in order to meet the same
goal as the climate agreement, lowering
the carbon footprint, lessening
the amount of pollution, and of
course, maintaining sustainability.
So, when comparing the program
and the agreement, they
both go hand in hand, one takes a
macro perspective while the other
has more of a micro perspective,
airports. They are both effective
in showing the world on an international
stage, that there is a crisis
when it comes to environmental
impacts, that something needs
to be done. The good news is that
something is happening, for the
better. The aviation industry is recognizing
it along with the United
Nations. Important entities are
coming together and setting, guidance,
guidelines and goals, (hence
the 3 G’s). The overall objective is
for other industries to follow and
to make the same impact when it
comes to decreasing any type of environmental
impact, this is where
the challenge lies.