Liege Airport has officially moved up to level 4 ‘Transformation’ of the Airport Carbon Accreditation program!

This multi-level ACA (Airport Carbon Accreditation) certification program was developed by ACI (Airport Council International) to encourage airports to reduce their CO2 emissions and their carbon footprint. Their efforts are officially recognized by obtaining certification.

The first 3 levels of Airport Carbon Accreditation certification are as follows:
1. Mapping: the airport operator quantifies and verifies its CO2 emissions and undertakes to reduce them.
2. Reduction: the airport has set itself targets for reducing its own emissions and has implemented an action plan and a deadline for achieving these targets.
3. Optimisation: the airport and its partners (suppliers, airlines, etc.) account for their emissions and have implemented joint measures to reduce CO2 emissions.

In 2010, a year after this certification program was conceived, Liege Airport achieved level 1 by quantifying and verifying its carbon emissions.

In 2018, Liege Airport then moved up to level 2, thanks in particular to investments in renewable energy, improvements in the energy performance of buildings and the greening of the vehicle fleet, which have effectively reduced carbon emissions.

On 11 October 2022, Liege Airport officially concluded a partnership with its main partners based on the site (skeyes, SOWAER, Cainiao, ASL Belgium, FedEx, Ethiopian Airlines, Challenge Group, Swissport, Aeroservices, Avia Partner, TUI fly, Liège Cargo Agency, Air Belgium, Qatar Airways and WFS) with the aim of putting in place joint action plans to reduce emissions from all the airport community’s activities.

In January 2023, Liege Airport achieved level 3 of the Airport Carbon Accreditation. This international and independent recognition demonstrated that Liege Airport had taken steps to encourage the main players on the airport platform to also reduce their emissions.

What is level 4?

Today, Liege Airport officially received its ACA Level 4 ‘Transformation’ certificate. This level, which marks an important step in Liege Airport’s climate strategy, implies an explicit alignment of carbon emission reduction targets with global climate objectives, in particular those of the Paris Agreement.

To achieve this, Liege Airport has extended the scope of its carbon inventory to include more indirect emissions (scope 3), such as those generated by ground operations, travel to and from the site (employees, visitors, lorries) and third-party energy consumption.

At the same time, a Carbon Management Plan has been developed, defining the concrete actions that will be implemented to continue to reduce emissions from scopes 1 and 2 (direct and indirect emissions linked to the energy consumed by Liege Airport), with a long-term ambition aligned with carbon neutrality.

Liege Airport has also formalized a ‘Stakeholder Engagement Plan’, drawn up in collaboration with the hub’s major partners. This plan details the joint measures aimed at reducing emissions throughout the airport site.

It includes the continued electrification of the vehicle fleet, energy optimization of buildings and raising awareness of more sustainable modes of transport.

Liege Airport’s environmental commitments:

• Reduce its relative CO2 emissions by at least 75% by 2030 (base year 2017) and offset the remaining emissions through sustainable projects involving local communities.
• Reduce its relative CO2 emissions by at least 85% by 2040 (base year 2017) and offset the remaining emissions through sustainable projects involving local communities.
• Reduce its own CO2 emissions to zero by 2050 without using offset systems.
• Promote and support the global evolution of the aviation sector towards CO2 neutrality.

“We are proud of this long-term collaboration with our partner-operators at the airport. We remain determined to continue our efforts to decarbonise and green airport activities, by promoting a collective and mutually beneficial approach”, says Laurent Jossart, CEO of Liege Airport. ”Liege Airport is now part of a group of 44 airports (a total of 601 airports in 89 countries) that have achieved ACA level 4 ‘Transformation’. We are also one of the 114 most ambitious airports in the world in terms of the environment and carbon management. In fact, Liege Airport is one of the 20% most environmentally virtuous airports, having achieved ACA levels 4 or 5.”

To find out more about Airport Carbon Accreditation: https://airportco2.org/

About Liege Airport :
Liege Airport, 5th cargo airport in Europe and 1st in Belgium, is the only European airport to favour full cargo
(#freightersfirst). It specialises in the transport of perishable goods, pharmaceutical products, medical
equipment, express parcels, e-commerce, medical and humanitarian equipment and live animals. The airport
ecosystem brings together 150 companies, including 50 airlines and 60 logisticians, and employs nearly 11,000
people.

Press :
Christian Delcourt, Communication manager: +32 4 96 53 06 15 – cde@liegeairport.com
Valérie Hauglustaine, Press Officer: + 32 4 234 85 75 – vha@liegeairport.com
Caroline Hussin, Communication Officer: + 32 4 234 85 28 – chu@liegeairport.com
www.liegeairport.com