Mumbai Airport awarded carbon neutrality status by ACI

GVK MIAL, the company that administers the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) became the proud recipient of Level 3+ Carbon Neutrality certification by Airports Council International (ACI), the global authority of international airports on Tuesday, May 23.

This is the highest level of environmental achievement available to airports for their contribution in the areas of GHG management. The accreditation is given only if an airport demonstrates reduction in the carbon emissions & offsets the remaining scope 1 & scope 2 emissions. The certification assumes greater importance given that the Mumbai airport is credited as being the busiest airport with a single runway, with more than 45.2 million passengers having travelled through between 2016 -17.

“We are extremely proud of this achievement. Our airport has successfully managed to reduce carbon emissions by 20.40% per passenger against the base year 2014-15. This has been possible due to the efforts of all our stakeholders and we thank them for their contribution. We are committed to minimising our carbon footprint and we intend to adopt all measures to maintain the benchmark we have achieved”, said the spokesperson, Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Limited (MIAL). 

MIAL adopted the ACI’s airport carbon accreditation program in 2011 and since then has gradually earned the four certifications under the program by embracing a series of initiatives. Greenhouse gases accounting & management, setting up a greenhouse gas policy & energy policy, implementation of energy management system, and solar power installations formed an essential part of the sustainability program at the Mumbai airport. Apart from this, implementation of Noise & Ambient air quality monitoring system, operating as a silent airport, recycling of food waste and water are other green initiatives undertaken by MIAL.

The Mumbai airport’s contribution towards the environment is important as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has indicated that aviation’s total CO² emissions account for 2% of global emissions’ impacting climate change. As per reports, 26.5 percent of global air passenger traffic travels through airports that are certified at one of the four levels of the ACI program. 24 airports in the Asia-Pacific region have certification under the program and these airports account for 21.6 percent of air passenger traffic in the region. (Link shared below for source of information). However only 4 other airports in the Asia-Pacific region have a level 3+ certification of Carbon Neutrality.

MIAL’s Journey towards Carbon Neutrality

• In 2012 MIAL received the level 1 accreditation for Mapping. It requires direct disclosure of carbon emission from airports direct operations (scope1 & scope 2 emissions)
• In 2013 this accreditation was upgraded to Level 2 i.e. Reduction. It requires demonstration of efforts and results in reducing carbon emissions from its direct operations (scope 1 & scope 2 emissions)
• In 2015 the airport received Level 3 rating i.e. Optimization. This requires fulfillment of requirements given in Level 2 and also assessment of carbon footprint of third party stakeholders i.e. scope 3 emissions
• In 2017 the airport has received Level 3+ rating i.e. Neutrality, the highest environmental certification for an airport. This requires the fulfillment of requirements of Level 1, 2 & 3 & offset of remaining scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions.