Four Indian airports receive international recognition for reducing emissions

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced that four airports in the country have managed a transition from level 1 to level 2 with a reduction in the carbon emissions by grading their systems as per the Airports Council International (ACI).

The airports had adopted the grading system in 2018 and successfully implemented the carbon emission plan.

"Four AAI airports - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata; Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar; Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi and Trivandrum International Airport have met all the necessary requirements to upgrade to level 2: 'reduction', by constituting Carbon Management Plan and reducing the carbon emissions at airports as per the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Program," said AAI in a press statement on Wednesday.

As per the data provided for the CO2 emission of four years - 2015,16,17,18; these airports witnessed a decrease in emission despite an increase in air traffic.

The grading system of ACI has four categories - mapping, reduction, optimization and neutrality.

"Carbon mapping occurs when the airport has a policy commitment to emissions reduction and development of a Carbon Footprint for the airport's scope-1 and scope-2 emissions, which are under its control. Carbon reduction occurs when the airport shows the reduction in carbon emissions as compared to the base year," added AAI.