Carbon Offset and Value Opportunities for Airports
result in early action credits or lower compliance requirements. Many of the carbon offset activities herein will require the establishment of baseline emissions. An airport operator interested in measuring and reducing their carbon footprint may wish to measure GHG emissions in order to quantify the reduction in emissions resulting from their initiatives. In some instances an inventory may be required by a regulatory body in order to get approval for airport construction projects. Often these requirements are limited to considering the potential GHG emission impacts of a proposed project. In some cases, airports will be required to report their GHG emissions under EPA’s GHG Reporting Rule. These airports are required to account for the collective emissions from most GHG emitting sources. Standardized registries have been developed by a number of organizations in order to aid the development of GHG inventories. ACRP Report 11: Guidebook on Preparing Airport GHG Emission Inventories provides considerable guidance to airport operators on developing GHG inventories (Kim 2009). In developing an inventory, airport operators should consider following the methodologies provided by some of the leading registry bodies in order to maximize the credibility and accuracy of the inventory. The Climate Registry (The Registry) is a nonprofit organization formed to create consistent GHG emissions standards and reporting methods for businesses, municipalities, and other organizations. Participation in The Registry is completely voluntary but the data from each of the entities must be independently verified to ensure accuracy. As of April 1, 2011, The Registry had 430 members nationwide (The Climate Registry n.d.). The Port of Portland participates in The Registry and emissions from Portland International Airport, along with their other facilities and business activities, are reported and independently verified on an annual basis. A number of other transportation companies also participate in The Registry including the Utah Transit Authority, Amtrak, and Virgin Airlines. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an international organization based in the United Kingdom, which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose the GHG emissions of major corporations. In 2008, the CDP reported emissions data for 1,550 of the world’s largest corporations, accounting for nearly 26% of global emissions and representing, in total, over 3,000 organizations in 60 different counties (Carbon Disclosure Project n.d.). The organizations measure and disclose their GHG emissions and climate change strategies in order to set reduction targets and make environmental performance improvements. The CDP represents 534 institutional investors with a combined $64 trillion under management. Internationally there are quite a few airports that participate in the CDP, including Copenhagen Airport, Manchester Airport, Airport of Thailand, and several others. In June 2008, the annual assembly of the Airports Council International—Europe (ACI Europe) adopted a resolution on climate change when its member airports committed to reduce carbon emissions from their operations, with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral. One year later, at the 2009 annual assembly, ACI Europe launched Airport Carbon Accreditation, allowing the assessment and recognition of participating airports’ efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions. Airport Carbon Accreditation is an independent program to enforce the accreditation criteria for airports on an annual basis. The administration of the scheme is overseen by an advisory board. Airports must have carbon footprints independently verified in accordance with ISO 14064 (ISO n.d.). Evidence of this must be provided to the administrator together with all claims regarding carbon management processes, which must also be independently verified. Table 6 lists airports that have all become Airport Carbon Accredited since the launch of the program in June 2009. These airports currently account for over 34% of European passenger traffic.
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