Asia-Pacific Airports Recognized for Local Air Quality Improvements

01 Jun 2021

Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific has recognized six airport members from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR and India for outstanding achievements in improving local air quality. The submissions showcase innovative practices ranging from equipment power replacement, green plantation, prevention of open fire to vehicle power replacement. In a virtual ceremony, the fifth edition of the association’s annual Green Airports Recognition programme recognized the following airports:

Over 25 million passengers per annum:

Platinum – Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India

Gold – Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR
Silver – Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei

Less than 25 million passengers per annum:

Platinum – Brisbane Airport, Brisbane, Australia

Gold – Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, India
Silver – Kaohsiung International Airport, Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei

Green Airports Recognition was established in 2017 by ACI Asia-Pacific with the support of the Regional Environment Committee. The programme’s objective is to promote environmental best practices to minimize aviation’s impact on the environment and to recognize ACI Asia-Pacific airport members who have outstanding accomplishments in their environmental projects. All submissions are documented in the Green Airports Recognition publication.

“I applaud the recognized airports for their outstanding work towards improving air quality at and around their airports, playing their part to creating cleaner skies. As a positive side effect, many of these efforts also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation,” said Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific. “The ongoing commitment of airports to reducing the environmental impact of operations is evident in the many initiatives.”

In the 2019 ACI Asia-Pacific bi-annual Environmental Survey, 34% of airport senior management highlighted air quality as an environmental priority. Without proper air quality management, air pollution has known negative environmental and health impacts such as chemical smog, acid rain and human respiratory disease. With mitigation and best practices implemented by airports in the region, air pollutants are monitored and reduced to minimize the negative impacts to the local community.

Programme judge and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, Christopher Paling said “it was encouraging to see so many ambitious and innovative projects by airport operators in the region to improve local air quality. Projects evidenced successful implementation of a range of measures that deliver improvements and contribute to airport environmental sustainability.”