Environment
largest share of these incentives. The numbers already make for impressive reading – in 2022, daa reduced its carbon emissions by 24% at Dublin Airport and 38% at Cork Airport, compared against a 2018 baseline average. This was achieved by implementing a robust energy management process, continued LED upgrade works, a fleet replacement programme, and participation in the SEAI and OPW Reduce Your Use Campaign, for example. Those aren’t the only measures daa has taken, however. In 2023, the company transitioned 101 of its ground vehicles to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) instead of diesel, with the aim of reducing the vehicles’ carbon emissions by up to 90%, but the company sees this as an interim measure. As Andrea Carroll, daa Group’s head of sustainability, puts it, “While HVO provides us with immediate carbon emission reductions, as well as improved air quality due to the reduction in particle matter, our intention is to use HVO as an interim measure until the EV market for these vehicles progresses.” Fingers have long been pointing at the aviation industry’s carbon impact, and this focus has only grown in recent years, as flight emissions have come under increased scrutiny from the media and the public alike. “Addressing the sustainability issues associated with the air travel sector is particularly challenging because it is very visible and there is an assumption that air travel is primarily discretionary,” Carroll notes. “Where in some locations people have alternative transport choices – including trains – this is not an option for island countries – such as Ireland – on the periphery of Europe, which have a strong dependence on aviation to support their economies. This necessitates a focus on finding ways to make flying more sustainable.”
Fuelled by growth
The aviation industry accounts for an estimated 2–3% of global carbon emissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and while sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) like HVO are seen as one solution, they are costly – typically some 3–5 times that of conventional fuel. Currently, SAFs account for less than 0.1% of total global jet fuel in use – primarily due to lack of scale industrially.
Indeed, the numbers make for stark reading. While annual SAF production tripled in 2022 to 300 million litres compared with the previous year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the best industry estimates say that aviation will need about 450 billion litres a year by 2050 to hit its net zero commitment. Airports, meanwhile, are in a particularly difficult position, according to Carroll, given most CO2 output comes from the Scope 3 emissions that make up 94% of Dublin Airport’s total carbon footprint. These are indirect emissions from flights and airlines. As airports are facilitators of these emissions, any reduction can only be achieved through collaboration
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com
amongst airports, airlines and other stakeholders, such as aircraft operators, regulators, governments, aviation R&D companies and fuel suppliers, according to Carroll. Additionally, a major challenge is the large investment needed for new aircraft technologies, alternative fuels and facilitating the corresponding infrastructure. “At the moment, the focus is on usage of SAF as a first, most near-term accessible alternative into reducing aviation emissions,” says Carroll. “Our airports are facilitators of SAF and are ready to provide SAF once both the demand for and supply of is in place in the industry.”
Dublin has already put words into action by developing a stakeholder engagement plan to help identify key stakeholders on-site. “We have collaborated with our aircraft fuel supplier Exolum to support them in switching their entire fleet of trucks to HVO,” Carroll adds. “This means that 300,000 fewer litres of diesel per annum will be used at Dublin Airport. Masterlink, who operate the majority of deliveries to our stores in our airport, have also transitioned to this lower-carbon alternative fuel.”
Supported at Schiphol
Similar issues are being faced at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, with similar solutions being applied. According to Denise Pronk, head of sustainability at Royal Schiphol Group, all of the airport’s previously fossil- fuel-powered ground equipment has been running on HVO100 since the start of 2023.
In addition, almost half of the vans at the airport are now electric, while the rest run on biogas. At the same time, transport company Connexxion has been operating over 200 electric buses in and around Schiphol since 2018. Yet, Pronk notes, challenges remain there for CO2
targets. “One of the most
important challenges is scaling up SAF. In the short term, it will be sustainable fuels that make the most significant contribution to sustainable aviation.” Since 2022, Schiphol has made SAF available to airlines, offering a financial contribution to encourage uptake, which has seen some success. In June 2023, for instance, Qatar Airways signed a multi-million-dollar deal for 3,000 metric tonnes of neat SAF at Schiphol, while in April, Ryanair announced that 100% of its Amsterdam flights were now made using a 40% SAF blend. However, that’s not to say that challenges don’t remain. “At the moment, SAF is still more expensive than regular kerosene,” Pronk acknowledges. “Supply needs to be scaled up. With that, the price of SAF automatically goes down. To scale up, more research and development is needed on feedstock and production of synthetic kerosene, alongside radical transitions such as electric and hydrogen propulsion.”
Freedom from fossil fuels For Kevin O’Leary, COO, Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), owner of 11 regional Scottish
0.1% Jefferies 17
The percentage of total global jet fuel use that SAF accounts for, primarily due to a lack of scale industrially.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37
