SDG13: Four Indian Airports get international recognition for reducing emissions

Reducing emission has been a flagship project of United Nations various programs on Climate Action.

India’s four international airports managed a transition from level 1 to level 2 on in a grading system of Airports Council International (ACI). The airports had adopted the grading system in 2018 and successfully implemented the carbon emission plan.

“Airports Council International (ACI), a non-profit organization representing the world`s airports has announced that four AAI airports – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata; Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar; Lal Bhadaur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi and Trivandrum International Airport have met all the necessary requirements to upgrade to level 2:  ‘reduction’, by constituting Carbon Management Plan and reducing the carbon emissions at airports as per the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Program,” said AAI in a press statement on Wednesday. As per the data providing for CO2 emission of four years – 2015,16,17,18; these airports witnessed decrease in emission despite increase in air traffic. The grading system of ACI has four categories – mapping, reduction, optimization and neutrality. “Carbon mapping occurs when the airport has policy commitment to emissions reduction and development of a Carbon Footprint for the airport’s scope-1 & scope-2 emissions, which are under its control. Carbon reduction occurs when the airport shows the reduction in carbon emissions as compared to base year,” added AAI. The project is aimed at contributing in sustainable development by implementing cost effective carbon mitigation action to conserve environment and reduce adverse impact on society, community and ecosystem, thus contributing to national sustainable development goals, said AAI. The United Nations has adopted Climate Action as SDG13 (Sustainable Development Goal) under SDG 2030. 

Among these four airports, Kolkata airport is the 5th busiest airport of India while Trivandrum, Bhubaneswar, and Varanasi airports rank on 14th, 15th and 23rd positions. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is the busiest airport of India and 12th busiest in the world. Mumbai’s CSM International Airport is the second busiest airport followed by Bengaluru and Chennai international airports. The Chennai International Airport is managed  by AAI but the international airports of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are managed by private companies on PPP model.