ADAPT AND GROW APA Issue 1, 2022
Sho Kataoka, manager of NAA’s Airport Sustainability Office, explains why Tokyo Narita has introduced an even more focused and ambitious sustainability plan.
T
he global COVID-19 pandemic has led to extremely tough times for Narita International Airport, with significant suspension and reduction of passenger flights due to travel restrictions for the last two years. In addition, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were held in principle with no spectators in COVID-19, and it was difficult to take advantage of the opportunity. There are, however, signs of recovery and Narita International Airport – supported by stakeholders – is beginning to see its traffic figures rise again as international services start to resume.
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• Climate change initiatives • Environment management. For climate change in particular, more frequent and intense natural disasters globally ensure that reducing CO2 emissions is one of the most critical issues, and airports have responded to the challenge. Thus, NAA released its ‘Sustainable NRT 2050’ in March 2021 to promote further climate change initiatives.
In fact, new services have been launched by ZIPAIR (Los Angeles), Aero Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and Bamboo Airways (Hanoi) since December 2021.
To realise a sustainable society and become one of the world leading airports, we have set medium to long-term goals that include a net-zero target, which is the first among airport operators in Japan, and counter measures to decrease CO2 emissions with stakeholders throughout the airport. Under the framework, we will successively conduct our environmental measures based on the above categories.
Indeed, with an eye on the future, we must steadily proceed with a series of projects designed to enhance the operational capabilities of the airport, the most high-profile of which is the construction of a new runway.
With stronger relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, we strive to achieve our goals to become a sustainable airport which grows in an environmentallyfriendly and ethical way.
Our commitment to the sustainable development of Narita and being a good neighbour to local residents means that we will make every effort to obtain their understanding for the projects, and take measures to reduce our environmental impact, as we seek to successfully co-exist with them going forward.
Climate change in particular has been the focus of our efforts over many years to conserve energy through the introduction of renewable energy, LED lighting and energy management systems.
At Narita International Airport, we have promoted various initiatives based on the following four pillars:
This has led to progress in sustainable and cumulative results such as a decrease in airport emissions of carbon dioxide per landing and takeoff cycle of around 16% over a four-year period from 2015.
• Community environment initiatives • Resource recycling initiatives
However, today with statistics showing more frequent and increasingly severe natural disasters with global warming
