Airports Authority of India Sets Net Zero & 100% Green Energy Targets for Airports

Airports Authority of India Sets Net Zero & 100% Green Energy for Airports

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has set the target for most airports in India to become 100% green energy dependent by 2024. Airports are to implement net zero emmission by 2030.

Presently Mumbai and Cochin among 25 other airports that are utilising 100% green energy. While Cochin boasts of being the first airport in the world to go 100%  green,  the other such airports include Puducherry, Kanpur (Civil), Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysore, Shimla, Tezu, Kangra, Kolhapur, Pune, Jalgaon, Dimapur, Sholapur, Gondia, Aurangabad Akola, Jammu, Srinagar, Imphal, Pekyang, Pantnagar, Leh, Dehradun, Kullu and Juhu.

The Airports Council International (ACI) has launched the Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme, which is the global standard for carbon management for the airports. The program aims at assessment of carbon emissions at the airport and development of plans to manage the emmissions and reducing the carbon footprint. As per the accreditation program of the Airports Council International, various international airports have achieved carbon neutrality by using a series of measures, which also include the use of green/renewable energy.

Mumbai and Delhi have received 4+ accreditation, the highest accreditation of ACI. As per reports, only three airports in APAC have achieved this level of accreditation. Bengaluru and Hyderabad have received 3+ level of accreditation.

Further, as per AAI, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar and Varanasi have recieved level 2 accreditation in December 2019,while more than 23 airports are in process of ACI-ACA Level 2 certification.

AAI has already installed solar power plants at various airports under net metering / captive mode at various locations with cumulative capacity of 54 Mwp till date. Moreover, around 58 airports across the country have installed solar plants. Besides, few airports are procuring green energy through open access. In addition, airport operators with scheduled operations are advised to map the carbon emissions at their respective airports.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has advised all the operational airports with scheduled operations and developers of the upcoming greenfield airports to work towards achieving carbon neutrality and net zero, which inter-alia includes use of green energy.