Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Receives Carbon Accreditation

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad, has received Airport Carbon Accreditation at Level 2 –‘Reduction’ for its efforts in managing and reducing carbon emissions.

The Airport Carbon Accreditation certification was presented to RGIA on 8 November during the 8th ACI Asia-Pacific Small Airports Seminar organized by ACI Asia-Pacific and hosted by GMR Hyderabad International Airports Ltd (GHIAL).

Mr. Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO of GHIAL, operator of RGIA, said, “This accreditation is a significant milestone in the advancement of airport’s overall sustainability strategy as it involved calculating the carbon footprint of RGIA, using internationally recognised methodology and independent verification. RGIA has compiled an independently verified carbon footprint and succeeded in reducing their overall emissions and carbon footprint over the past number of years.”

On the same occasion, Mr. P.S. Nair, CEO-Corporate, Airport Sector of GMR Airports Limited was also presented with the Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate for Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, another GMR-led airport in India, which was accredited at Level 2 – ‘Reduction’ in July this year.

Regional Director of ACI Asia-Pacific, Mrs. Patti Chau said, “It was this month last year that Airport Carbon Accreditation was introduced in Asia Pacific and I am indeed very pleased to see that 6 airports in the region have been accredited and 3 are even accredited at Level 2 – ‘Reduction’, including RGIA.”

Airport Carbon Accreditation is the institutionally endorsed program that independently assesses and recognises airports’ efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions.

Participating airports can be certified at 4 progressive levels of accreditation as follows: ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’, and ‘Neutrality’.

First launched by ACI Europe in 2009, the programme received support from ICAO and was extended to the Asia Pacific region in November 2011.

Airport Carbon Accreditation is administered by WSP Environment & Energy, an international consultancy appointed to enforce the accreditation criteria for airports. The administration of the programme is overseen by an independent Advisory Board.

Airports must have carbon footprints independently verified in accordance with ISO14064 (Greenhouse Gas Accounting). Evidence of this must be provided to the administrator together with all claims regarding carbon management processes which must also be independently verified.

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