EuroAirport awarded for its policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Certification “Airport Carbon Accreditation” (ACA) Level 4
The Airports Council International (ACI) Europe has certified EuroAirport for level 4 of the “Airport Carbon Accreditation”. EuroAirport is Switzerland’s first airport to achieve the second-highest ACA certification level 4. In France, only the Côte d’Azur airports (Nice, Saint Tropez, Cannes) are certified higher than EuroAirport with ACA 4+ certifications.
The award was preceded by an audit conducted by the independent auditing body Verifavia on behalf of ACI Europe. The certification confirms EuroAirport’s efforts in reducing its own CO2 emissions and to involve all its partners operating on the airport platform.
ACA certification level 4 specifically includes the following requirements:
- A clearly defined emissions reduction target - independent of traffic volume - for the infrastructure of EuroAirport as the operating company.
- An extended scope of application to the carbon footprint, also including indirectly caused emissions in the context of employee business travel, commuting of employees and passengers, aircraft during landing/ take-off/ground phases and energy supply to the Airport's partners.
- EuroAirport’s commitment and collaboration with its partners on the airport platform.
In order to reduce CO2 emissions, the Airport is acting on two different levels:
On the one hand, it is reducing its own CO2 emissions with a binding target. In October 2021, the Airport therefore decided to set the net-zero emissions target for its own infrastructures as early as 2030 instead of 2050. Among other things, this target will be achieved via the procurement of 100% renewable electricity of European origin, already in place since May 2020, by means of a continuous reduction of CO2 emissions caused by EuroAirport's car pool as well as through a gradual connection of the Airport to the existing district heating network of the City of Saint-Louis, which is to be supplemented by a new biomass heating system located in the airport zone by 2025.
On the other hand, the Airport is committed to reducing emissions across the entire platform in cooperation with is partners. In order to achieve this goal, various measures and projects are being carried out or have already been implemented. These measures and projects include the future rail connection of the Airport, which was declared in March 2022 as being of public utility – and therefore the next steps can be taken –, the elaboration and implementation of a cross-company mobility plan that is supported by the State of France with a significant contribution as well as the electrification of bus line 50, connecting Basel SBB railway station with EuroAirport.
The ACA certification is the global standard for the management of airport-related greenhouse gas emissions. The program was initiated by ACI Europe in 2009 and is managed by an independent auditing body, which itself is being monitored by an independent advisory committee. The program awards airports which have undertaken extraordinary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On the global scale, to this day, 396 airports from 76 countries have participated in this environmental certification process. EuroAirport is one of the twenty first airports in Europe to have achieved one of the two second-highest certification levels.
Further information about the ACA certification can be found on the EuroAirport website.
The media release issued by ACI Europe about EuroAirport’s ACA 4 certification can be found here.