The national airport for Wales has unveiled a timeline of immediate and short term environmental goals.
These milestones will be delivered in line with the organisation’s vision to become a ‘Carbon neutral Airport’ and is a key consideration for the Airport’s Masterplan development over the next two decades.
Environmental responsibility is a priority for Cardiff Airport, with a number of achievements already having been delivered.
The Airports current position:
- A reduction of 53% in our carbon emissions over eight years
- Natural Gas consumption has been reduced by 29% over one year
- Electricity consumption has been reduced by 7% over one year
- Electric vehicles have been introduced to our operations around the site
- Complimentary water refill stations have been installed across the site
- The use of plastic straws has been discontinued by all of our food and drink outlets
- We have replaced end of life equipment with modern, more energy efficient technology
- We have replaced light fittings with LED and energy efficient solutions
- Air Traffic Control uses continuous descent operations for aircraft on approach which reduces the impact of noise
- The ground-running of engines during anti-social hours has been restricted
- We encourage twin engine aircraft to taxi with one engine
- An extensive audit of Cardiff Airport’s environmental management system has led to the fourth consecutive achievement of the BS 8555:2003 Seren Standard accreditation. This recognises the Airport’s commitment towards legal compliance, environmental performance and continued improvement.
The journey ahead:
Cardiff Airport’s Environmental Flight Path has been developed with the support of Cardiff Airport’s Board, Welsh Government, the Airport Operators’ Association and WSP consultancy. It is a framework developed to track environmental and sustainability successes that have already been achieved, whilst setting our immediate and short term goals. These include:
- Sourcing 100% of our power supply from renewable and clean energy sources – October 2019
- Signing the Healthy Travel Charter – an initiative where we will commit to supporting and encouraging our team and customers to travel in a sustainable way to and from the Airport – October 2019
- Introducing electric vehicle charge points across our car parks – November 2019
- Renewing our recycling operations – November 2019
- Installing smart meters across the site to closely monitor energy consumption – January 2020
- Updating Cardiff Airport’s Climate Change Adaptation Report – March 2020
- Continuing to work with all partners to further the reduce plastic use – 2020
- Commissioning and installing a solar PV farm on the Airport site – 2021
Deb Bowen Rees, CEO of Cardiff Airport, said:
“The unveiling of our Environmental Flight Path is the culmination of a huge amount of work delivered by the team. I’m extremely proud of the significant achievements we’ve already made, which includes a reduction of over 50% in carbon emissions over eight years. In October, we will be able to say that all of the Airport’s power supply will be sourced from renewable and clean energy.
“Our Environmental Flight Path will continue as a living and breathing strategy which will be used as a benchmark for success but, importantly, it will be reviewed and expanded over time to include mid and long-term goals as we move through the next twenty years and realise our Masterplan for 2040 and ultimately become a carbon neutral Airport.”
Connectivity is hugely important to Wales for both business and leisure travel – by choosing to fly locally from Cardiff Airport it will have a positive impact on the carbon footprint of travellers who may otherwise be travelling to and from English Airports via road.
How are our airlines doing?
Cardiff Airport works with closely with a number of well-known airlines, who are playing their part to promote awareness of climate change and taking steps to operate their business sustainably.
Just last week, it was announced that Air France-KLM is back at the top of the ‘Airlines’ category of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). KLM, which operates up to three times a day from Cardiff to its hub at Amsterdam Schiphol, has significantly invested in sustainable fuel and technology and in June launched its “Fly Responsibly” initiative.
