Heathrow CEO calls on governments to tackle climate change
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Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye has called upon global leaders to take action to cut carbon emissions during a panel discussion at the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit staged in Geneva, Switzerland.
Holland-Kaye noted that as part of the airport’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions, Heathrow has achieved a Level 3 Airport Carbon Accreditation, which confirms the airport has ‘optimised’ its carbon footprint reduction by engaging with third parties when measuring and reducing its carbon footprint.
Heathrow has committed to a further 34% reduction in CO2 emissions from energy used in buildings by 2020, as well as reducing CO2 from the airports vehicles by a rapid transformation of the Heathrow Airport Ltd fleet of cars and small vans to electric by 2020.
Heathrow has also been a long-standing supporter of tackling emissions from flights through a market-based measure to address our impact on climate change and supported aviation’s inclusion in the European Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012, as a first to a global carbon emissions trading scheme.
Heathrow Airport, as a member of the Airports Council International, signed an open letter at the conference calling for governments to support the aviation industry’s approach to climate change, including improved efficiency in air traffic management, and accelerating research for alternative fuels and new technology. In particular the letter calls for the industry’s global regulator, ICAO, to agree a mandatory carbon offset scheme to be introduced in 2020. This approach will allow the industry to stabilise its net CO2 emissions from 2020 through carbon-neutral growth, where traffic growth would be offset through UN-certified carbon reductions in other sectors. The aviation industry will also reduce net CO2 emissions from aviation to half of what they were in 2005, by 2050.
“Heathrow’s ambition is to be the world’s most responsible hub airport and to do that we must find innovative solutions to our most pressing environmental challenges, including those around carbon,” said Holland-Kaye. “Our work in Terminal 2, the Heathrow Commuter Programme and the Heathrow Sustainability Partnership are examples of innovation in action and we are proud they are being cited in Aviation Climate Solutions. We know we cannot do this alone, and we will continue to work with partners in the airport, and our international industry counterparts gathered at the conference today, to ensure we remain at the cutting-edge of green innovations and continue to deliver leading environmental results.”
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