Swedavia gets to fossil free (not counting flights)
Arlanda airport (Stockholm) is the largest in Swedavia’s network
The evolution of Swedavia’s CO2 emissions. Source: Swedavia Sustainability Report 2020
Swedavia, Sweden’s largest airport operator, has published its 2020 annual report and, in there, published an interesting nugget of information: the Swedish airport operator managed to make its own operations fossil-free before the end of last year.
This refers, of course, to those Swedavia’s own activities and leaves out the main source of carbon emissions: the aircraft that pass through its ten airports.
Still, it is quite an achievement if we take into account airports are quite complex pieces of infrastructure with large facilities that must be properly heated in winter and many moving elements. Ten years ago Swedavia’s own emissions were in the order of 7,700 tons of carbon per year.
I wonder how much the anomalous circumstances of 2020 have contributed to reaching this goal, while some of the energy usage will be fixed, no matter what, I guess a not insignificant share of it, is dependent on the volume of activity at the airports…
Swedavia’s CO2 emissions by type: 47 % is “vehicles and fuels” while 44% is “energy (power)” which I assume includes the energy expense of running the terminals and facilities. Source: from Swedavia’s Annual Sustainability Report
Ground vehicles have been a particular focus of attention for environmentally-conscious airport operators since those are items that, unlike planes, can in most cases be relatively easily electrified. In the case of Swedavia we are talking of some 400 vehicles, or half the total fleet, that have been electrified. Those that did not have a readily available electric option, like large snow-ploughing machines, have been converted to run on biogas.
Although they don’t manage the aircraft, there is one thing airport operators can do on this front too and this is facilitate the use of sustainable aviation fuels. In this regard, Sweden is introducing a 1% blend mandate this year and Swedavia has stated its commitment to the goal that 5% of the jet fuel supplied at its airports should be sustainable.
In the meantime Swedavia is, as a business, purchasing sustainable aviation fuel in quantities equivalent to its own corporate travel usage.
But this is perhaps something for another, more in-depth, post (and we’ll have very soon in the podcast to speak about this one of the experts that knows the most about Sweden’s aviation de-carbonization strategy..stay tuned!)
In the meantime, and if you are interested in sustainable airports and decarbonization, I suggest you check out the following:
Podcast with Avinor’s head of carbon reduction (Norway is also at the front of this race)
CNN article about Oslo airport and how its new terminal was designed with sustainability in mind (in the piece I also mention some initiatives by Finavia, the Finnish airport operator)
A piece on The Points Guy about the different types of ground vehicles that airports operate