Mapping and Reducing of CO2 Emissions at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
The climate change is a serious concern for people worldwide and consequently also for the passengers at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS). Although speed and efficiency remain the basis of the operations of AAS, AAS wants to take a leading role in tackling the problem of the climate change with a focus on reducing its CO2 emissions.
But how can AAS best act, to become a ‘greener airport’? The airport is a uniquely complicated space. The airport brings together hundreds of companies, thousands of vehicles and millions of passengers, making it difficult to get a clear view of the best approach to achieve a sustainable airport. This research will help AAS get a structured view on its current CO2 emissions and also give an overview of the best approach to reduce these CO2 emissions in the future.
In its 2007 Climate Plan Schiphol Group has set up a number of climate targets for AAS. The target that AAS has set for itself is that in 2012 AAS should be CO2 neutral for the direct controllable activities taking place at AAS. Furthermore in 2020, for the non-direct controllable activities of AAS, a reduction of 30% of the CO2 emissions with respect to the level of 1990 should be achieved. For the use of sustainable energy at AAS, the target is to generate at least 20% of the energy consumption through own generation of renewable energy in 2020.
To get an idea of how far Schiphol Group is in attaining these targets and what is needed to reach the targets in time a model is needed, that is suitable to map the CO2 emissions of activities related to AAS and is able to give an insight into the effects of various reduction measures at AAS. This model can than provide information to give a basis for policy decisions.
Approach
The model that is build will give an overview of the CO2 emissions in 2006, 2007 and 2008 of activities that are related to AAS to get an idea of what the current emission level is. Also the model will give an overview of the CO2 emissions in 1990, in order to know what the reference emission level is for the CO2 reduction targets set by AAS. With the data of the current emissions and data on growth trends at AAS, a forecast will be made for the emission levels in 2012 and 2020 when no reduction measures will be taken. To this forecast, various reduction measures will then be applied and the impact of the implementation of (combinations of) these reduction measures will be determined.
Results
The model will give an accurate overview of the performance of various mitigation measures to reduce the CO2 emissions at AAS and of the reductions in emissions that can be achieved compared to the level of 1990. With this information a recommendation will given on what measures AAS needs to take in order to reach the set targets on CO2 reduction.
The research was finished in June 2010. The model will be used to gain insight in our footprint. Futhermore the model will be used to investigate several measures which can be of influence on our footprint.
