AS Tallinna Lennujaam joined the ACA programme and was awarded the international carbon accreditation I level certificate, being a proof of the fact that the airport has committed to moving towards a climate-neutral management.
ACA, or the Airport Carbon Accreditation, is an independent carbon accreditation programme for airports, monitoring the efforts of airports and instructing them in assessing and reducing carbon emissions. First level accreditation means the carbon mapping step.
According to Ingrid Lai, the Environment Process Manager of the airport, joining the programme is a necessary step for ensuring that the airport could achieve climate-neutrality in the future: “Our first level, that is the mapping accreditation, means that we have committed to measuring our carbon footprint each year and in order to move on to the next level, we need to establish an action plan for reducing emissions. The final goal of each certified airport is to achieve carbon neutrality, that is the fourth level of ACA.”
According to Riivo Tuvike, Chairman of the Management Board at Tallinn Airport, the possibilities of reducing the environmental footprint in Tallinn Airport have been considered for some time already: “The management board of the airport has adopted a corporate environmental policy, which phrases the goal to move towards management with low carbon emissions. In essence, all today’s decisions concerning future developments and changes must consider with the carbon reduction plan. Therefore, on one hand, the ACA accreditation is a recognition for us, on the other hand, however, a commitment which we will take very seriously.”
One possibility to reduce carbon footprint is smarter management of power consumption. The airport has already implemented several environmentally sustainable innovations. Ingrid Lai explains: “For example, the runway lights are already 100% LED, the old lamps in the terminal have been partly replaced by new and we plan to upgrade the entire terminal lighting in the near future. Contributing to the reduction of emissions from other emission source, such as heat production or transport, is equally important.”
AS Tallinna Lennujaam has for years been following the environmental policy, reviewed and approved by the management board each year. This is an important framework document in organising everyday activities and in decision-making. In addition, the airport has an environmental management certificate ISO 14001 since 2004. Together with several other companies, the airport has signed the CSR Declaration of the Ministry of the Economic Affairs and Communications, and this spring, the Responsible Business Forum recognised AS Tallinna Lennujaam with the golden award for corporate responsibility.
