Flying the airport climate action banner high at UN Climate Change Conference
This year’s landmark annual climate conference organised by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, the 27th Conference of Parties (COP), took place in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt between the 6th and 18th November.
Whilst aviation (like shipping) is not part of the formal negotiations, a number of aviation-focused side-events highlighted the recent positive developments on the international scene concerning air transport’s contribution to global climate goals. Namely, they formed an opportunity for various aviation stakeholders to take stock of the recent ICAO Long Term Aspirational Goal of Net Zero CO2 by 2050 for international aviation and chart the way forwards to achieve the goal.
ACI EUROPE’s Head of Sustainability, Alexandre de Joybert, spoke at the ICAO Aviation Side-Event, bringing airport climate action within Airport Carbon Accreditation to the fore and outlining the global airport industry’s plans vis a vis achieving Net Zero by 2050. In particular, he highlighted the need for more cooperation between industry partners to deliver on ambitious climate goals, pointing to the Destination 2050 alliance as an example.
Alexandre also participated in an event organised by the International Coalition for Sustainable Development (ICSI), the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) and the Institution of Civil Engineers and Resilience Rising. Under the title “Implementation Lab: Engineering the vision for climate-resilient transport”, the event was organised as part of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action. The session focused on the implementation of resilience and adaptation plans for transport infrastructure.
As part of his presentation, Alexandre highlighted that airports are not only working on delivering CO2 reductions in line with climate mitigation objectives, but also looking at better adapting to climate change in airport operations. To further advance this climate resilience, ACI EUROPE and EUROCONTROL recently launched the new working group European Aviation Climate Change Adaptation Working Group (EACCA).
Read the latest Airport Carbon Accreditation Press Release issued on the occasion of COP27.
Find out more about EACCA Working Group.
