Hong Kong International Airport set to reduce carbon emissions with new management platform

HIKA's carbon management platform provides a unified view of carbon emissions, supporting their 2050 Net Zero Carbon Pledge

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) are on their way to tackling carbon emissions by employing a new carbon management platform that will help monitor carbon emission data from across airport environments. The programme will help track key performance indicators (KPI’s), motivating the airport to work toward its net zero carbon goal.  

HIKA aims to have the carbon management platform fully deployed by summer 2023. The programme will collect and aggregate data on carbon emissions from a variety of sources within the airport and will scope one-three emissions. It will also include data from 29 participating business partners across the airport value chain, overseeing services such as ground handling, aircraft maintenance, air cargo logistics, and catering. The platform will provide accurate, clear, and customisable visualisations of this data, allowing HKIA greater efficiency and precision in its carbon reporting efforts.

HKIA, an airport with high levels of cargo and passenger traffic, is home to one of the world’s largest terminal buildings. In 2012, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) pledged to make HKIA the world’s greenest airport, reinforcing this goal in 2021 with the announcement of its 2050 Net Zero Carbon Pledge. This is a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with a midpoint target of a 55% absolute emissions reduction by 2035 (from a 2018 baseline).

Airport scope one and two emissions stem largely from fossil fuel energy consumed to operate the terminal building, vehicles, and equipment, while scope three emissions — indirect emissions originating from the airport’s value chain and business partners — are more difficult to track and represent a significant contributor to overall airport emissions. In the case of HKIA, airport business partners account for more than 50% of airport-wide ground emissions.

HKIA has adopted an airport-wide approach for carbon management, working collaboratively with business partners to set carbon reduction targets and implement measures to accelerate airport-wide carbon reduction. While HKIA already has an online emissions tracking system, it does not unify emissions data collected from the many sources active in the airport environment, requiring more time-consuming manual processes.

The new programme, supported by leading net-zero technology partner Envision Digital, aggregates data streams from across the airport environment and participating business partners and consolidates these into a single customisable dashboard. Allowing the tracking of emissions data alongside KPI’s towards HKIA’s Net Zero Carbon Pledge, the dashboard interface facilitates carbon performance tracking, providing the granularity to monitor individual emissions sources against specific targets. Having all available data in one place supports HKIA in aligning its carbon reporting to government and industry measurement standards such as ISO and complying with Airports Council International’s Airport Carbon Accreditation program for which mapping of greenhouse gas emissions is key.

Peter Lee, General Manager for Sustainability at the Airport Authority Hong Kong said: “We are committed to achieving the HKIA 2050 Net Zero Carbon Pledge with our business partners. The development of this new Carbon Management System will provide comprehensive, accurate carbon emissions tracking against the long term target for both AAHK and each of our pledged business partners, and serves as a foundation for transparent reporting.”