The growing trend of airports publishing sustainability reports is a significant testament to the increasing environmental awareness and the urgent need for sustainable practices in the aviation industry.
Many airports have taken the initiative to release and publish sustainability reports, also known as impact reports. These reports detail the initiative-taking steps they are taking to safeguard the environment and reduce their reliance on non-renewable resources.
It’s a challenge to precisely determine the global count of airports reporting on their sustainability efforts, primarily due to the diverse reporting standards and practices used worldwide. However, this challenge underscores the increasing momentum of sustainability in the aviation sector, with more airports developing plans, initiatives, and frameworks for more sustainable operations.
A perfect example of an airport that is now in its sustainability planning stages is Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among the initiatives they are taking or plan to take include the following:
- Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations: CLT has introduced electric buses and installed charging stations to promote electric vehicles. This reduces dependence on fossil fuels and air pollution.
- Solar Power: They are installing solar panels to generate renewable energy for the airport’s operations, reducing reliance on the traditional grid.
- Water Conservation: More water efficiency and water management practices are being implemented to reclaim used water and grey water from bus washing to non-potable airport uses.
- Waste Reduction and Recycling: They are implementing programs to reduce waste by installing more recycling stations, reducing waste disposal, and minimizing landfill use. Construction projects also emphasize recycling crushed concrete and asphalt for reuse.
- Energy Efficiency: The airport is continuously upgrading its facilities with energy-efficient systems to reduce overall energy consumption. This is especially true of lighting systems, which are big energy users.
- Reusing Cooking Oil: Thousands of gallons of cooking oil are being converted into renewable diesel fuel.
- Indoor air quality. Steps are being taken to improve indoor air quality by installing more advanced filtering systems and transferring to green cleaning solutions and methods.
Many of these efforts are already happening, while others are part of the airport’s Comprehensive Sustainability Plan 2020. Eventually, these efforts will coalesce and be documented in a sustainability report published by the airport.
While many other airports around the globe are taking or have taken similar measures and are beginning to publish sustainability reports, other managers have questions about sustainability in general and sustainability reports in particular. Among their questions are the following:
- What is a sustainability report?
- What is included in one?
- Why are they not all the same?
- Will more airports release sustainability reports?
To help us answer these questions, we turn to Stephen Ashkin, a nationally known thought leader on sustainability and the leading advocate for sustainability in the professional cleaning industry. Here are his answers:
What Is a Sustainability Report?
I compare sustainability reports to a CARFAX® report on a used car. A CARFAX report details a car’s history and service records for maintenance and repairs. Using these reports, used-car buyers can make thought-based decisions about whether to buy a car.
The same is true of sustainability reports. Think of investors, loan officers, government bodies, airline carriers, and major stakeholders. They want to review an airport’s sustainability report and disclosures because it reveals the precise steps an airport is taking to reduce its considerable environmental footprint. Taking these steps also means the airport is becoming more resilient to unexpected shocks and hardships, better-handling climate change and its impacts, and generating cost savings. Typically, sustainability efforts reduce operating costs.
What Is Included in a Sustainability Report?
Sustainability reports are often released in the first quarter of the year. They include all the items mentioned earlier — environmental matters — but also address social issues. These include ethical hiring practices, fair wages, healthy working conditions, inclusiveness, transparency, and the makeup of an organization’s management. Airports play a significant role in all aspects of sustainability because whatever airports put into place, typically local communities soon follow suit.
Why Are They Not All the Same?
This question asks why a sustainability report from airport “A” may be different from that of airport “B.” The problem is these reports may use entirely different evaluation methods and metrics. This is one of the current downfalls of sustainability reports. However, steps are now being taken to address this issue. For instance, earlier this year the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “adopted rules to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings,” according to their press release. The news goes on to say the rules reflect the SEC’s continued efforts to respond to global investors “who demand consistent, comparable, and reliable information about the financial effects of climate-related risks on an [organization] operation and how it manages those risks.”
The gist of this ruling is to address and eliminate the confusion surrounding reading sustainability reports released by publicly traded companies in the U.S. While the ruling does not apply to private organizations, what often happens is they use these templates for their own sustainability reports.
Will More Airports Release Sustainability Reports?
Without question, because they must. Airports of all sizes have a significant impact on the environment, locally and potentially globally. Emissions from aircraft, ground vehicles, and the daily operations of an airport all significantly impact air quality and climate change. These emissions are greenhouse gasses, which are making the world warmer, causing more violent storms and fires, and contributing to water scarcity. Further, publishing sustainability reports is being encouraged by major airline carriers, which are becoming much more sustainability focused.
Usually, we look at sustainability progress as links in a chain. If one link is weak, it can cause havoc for all the other links in the chain. To avoid this, we must remember sustainablity is a team effort. All stakeholders are being asked to implement environmental, social, and governance strategies that benefit airports and the communities they serve. This is how sustainability grows here and around the globe.
Robert Kravitz is a frequent writer for the professional cleaning and buildings industries. He can be reached at [email protected]
