The Greater Moncton International Airport Authority is working towards becoming more environmentally friendly.
Airport President and CEO Bernard LeBlanc says it is currently taking part in the Airport Carbon Accreditation Program, which is run by Airports Council International.
‘We made the decision a few years ago that we wanted to be green. There’s four levels of certification. A few years ago we were level one, and we just achieve level two, which is a reduction effort. We are only the third airport in Canada to do that,” LeBlanc says.
The steps that were done in order to achieve this accreditation:
• Prepare a carbon footprint;
• Have a Carbon Policy in place;
• Have a Carbon Reduction Target in place;
• Prepare a Carbon Management Plan, which details how they can manage carbon emissions at the airport and also lists Carbon Reduction Initiatives which they will undertake;
• Demonstrate an actual reduction of carbon emissions.
At the third level, there are only two airports in Canada there right now. Level 3 is Optimization. This will include Scope 3 emissions, like emissions from ground handling equipment and landing and take-off emissions.
At the fourth level, there is only one Airport in North America.
“We think if we do this right, within the next year or two, we could reach the fourth level. That would be pretty unique for our size airport,” LeBlanc says.
The target is to reduce carbon emissions by 5% by 2020, from the baseline year of 2015. Up to now, there has been a reduction in 2017 of 284 tCO2e (tonnes CO2 equivalent), which is a reduction of just under 11%.
LeBlanc says, “I think this is something beneficial for us because saving costs helps us over the long term, and it send the right message. We do a lot of tours for the young kids and those types of things, and those will be the people who care for the future.”