Thursday April 28th, 2016
Sharjah, 27 April, 2016: Sharjah International Airport has been awarded the Airport Carbon Accreditation ‘Level 2 – Reduction’ by Airports Council International (ACI) during The 11th ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition which took place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre located in Gold Coast, Australia on 18-20 April 2016.Over the years, the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition has made its name as one of the most important aviation events in the region, addressing major issues affecting the aviation industry and attracting high level representation from airports and industry partners, including airlines, regulators and suppliers from all over the world.HE Ali Salim Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority and director board member ACI Asia-Pacific expressed his thanks to the organizers providing airport authorities and operators an opportunity to meet global colleagues, partners and suppliers.He confirmed that Sharjah International Airport became an Airport Carbon Accredited under Level 2, Reduction’. The accreditation demonstrated the airport’s strong commitment to carbon reduction and working towards carbon neutrality. Sharjah International Airport is the second airport in the region achieving level-2 reduction by ACI.He mentioned that Sharjah International Airport achieved the ACA level -2 as part of its efforts to protect the environment through adopting various green initiatives, in line with UAE’s commitment sustainable development and reduced carbon emission as a part of UAE Green growth strategy and “Vision -2021″.He explained that while continuing with Level -1 Mapping by reporting its carbon emission, Sharjah International Airport started preparing for level-2 reduction by initiating and adapting technical and operational changes which led to a reduced carbon emission, now after we achieved level 2 Reduction, we will work on a new plan to achieve level 3. In 2016 based on the carbon emission data of 2014 Sharjah International Airport made remarkable reduction of 22% compared to the base 2012 in it’s per passenger carbon emission. The airport participated in the ACA accreditation independently without support of a third party.Airport Carbon Accreditation has four Levels of carbon accreditation, (Level-1 Mapping, Level-2 Reduction, Level-3 Optimization and Level-4 Neutrality).On the other hand, over 600 delegates representing 238 organizations gathered in Gold Coast for the three-day conference & Exhibition from 18-20 April to discuss some of the most critical issues, opportunities and challenges facing the aviation industry.The conference kicked off with a new forum, Aviation Talks which gave an opportunity for airports to take center stage and shared on topics including Airport Development & Financing; Commercial Development and Route Development and Tourism. On the other day the discussions continued on the topics such as Leaders Shaping Aviation’s Future, Transforming Passengers’ Experience and Expectations and Preparing and Facilitating for World Events. The conference concluded with a full day dedicated as “Technical Day” to explore operational issues around the four core elements namely, safety, security, airport IT and environmental sustainability.
