Carbon emission reduction policy

SCOPE

This policy is a Group policy and applies to Waikato Regional Airport Limited (WRAL) and all wholly owned subsidiaries.  Any amendments to the policy requested by WRAL subsidiaries must be submitted to WRAL management for approval.

Hamilton Airport is operated and managed by Waikato Regional Airport Ltd (WRAL) and owned by five local councils including Hamilton City, Waikato District, Matamata-Piako District, Waipa District and Otorohanga District.

PURPOSE

Hamilton Airport is committed to the long term good of our environment living by the principles of guardianship (kaitiakitanga) and sustainability as core team values and key themes in all company strategy documents.

To ensure our people feel informed and their work has clear alignment to the goals, the annual reporting adopts the sustainability framework across three key pillars: People, Profit, and Planet.

• People: A high performing team, with a strong focus on safety and customer experience.
• Profit: Financially sound, dynamic and opportunistic.
• Planet: We work to understand and minimise our environmental impact.

We are passionate about protecting the environment, minimising the use of natural resources and improving the quality of life for our community. We continually challenge ourselves to seek out, develop and implement new processes that make our business more sustainable.

As a company, we accept the role carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases play in climate change.  We also believe in the science behind climate change and have committed to lower emissions and work with our suppliers, customers and the wider economy to reduce or eliminate fossil fuels.

The Airport itself is surrounded by a vibrant aviation community and supports a number of regular public transport (RPT) services and a variety of general aviation (GA) activities. The Airport company is also a participant in the Tiaki Promise and has adopted the Tourism New Zealand Sustainability Commitments

As a result of its public sector ownership, the Group must adhere to the Local Government Act and the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019.

OBJECTIVES 

1) Identify our carbon footprint:

A carbon footprint is a way of qualifying the amount of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions for which an individual, organization or event is responsible. A GHG profile is a way of qualifying the amount of GHG an organization is responsible for, expressed as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e is divided into 3 areas known as scopes, and measured according to international standards.

Mapping the footprint of GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions within the Airport operational boundary is required to achieve Level 1 Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA). The emission sources as outlined in the guidance documents for Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3, provided by ACI, have been identified for Hamilton Airport. These are:

Scope 1:

• Stationary sources: Boilers, furnaces, burners, turbines, heaters, incinerators, engines, firefighting exercises, generators etc.
• Mobile sources: automobiles (airside/landside), trucks, employee buses etc.
• Process emissions: On site waste and wastewater management, etc.
• Other emissions: Fire suppression CO2, etc.

Scope 2:

• Indirect emissions: Emissions from purchased electricity.

Scope 3:

• Off-site waste management: emissions from other sources related to the Airport.

2)  Determine our ‘organisational boundary’ and the emissions sources within that boundary which are Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 sources, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

3)  Collect data and calculate the annual carbon emissions for the previous year to compile a carbon footprint report. This product carbon footprint report will form part of Hamilton Airports commitment to gain Programme Certification under Level 1 Airport Carbon Accreditation and outlines:

• Total emission (kgCO2e) per functional unit.
• Percentage contribution that to total emissions.
• Total net emissions (tCO2e).

4) Engage an independent third party (Instep) to verify the carbon footprint report before submission, to ensure that the carbon footprint calculation is in accordance with ISO14064 and accreditation requirements.

5) Successful application for Level 1 Airport Carbon Accredited (ACA).

6) Apply for ACA Level 2: Managing and reducing footprint.

• Fulfilment of all Level 1 accreditation requirements.
• Formulation of a carbon emissions reduction target.
• Development of a Carbon Management Plan to achieve the target.
• Demonstration of Scope 1 and 2 emission reductions versus the three-year rolling average.

7) Introduce the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) reporting mechanism to allow our business to assess both risks and opportunities, whilst acknowledging impacts on planet, people, communities and prosperity. Adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, the 17 SDGs are an urgent call for action by all countries, developed and developing, in a global partnership towards a 2030 sustainability agenda. WRAL has identified the following six SDG’s to report against:

• SDG #3: good health and well-being.
• SDG #8: decent work and economic growth.
• SDG #9: industry, innovation and infrastructure.
• SDG #11: sustainable cities and communities.
• SDG #13: climate action.
• SDG #17: partnerships.

8) Hamilton Airport, as part of future carbon reduction initiatives may interview businesses in our surrounding commercial and industrial business park to ensure sustainable best practice is adhered to.

REPORTING

We will ensure accurate and consistent year on year collection and comparison of data in accordance with carbon emission sources required by ACI for the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme at the various levels. Of note, the data covers a calendar year and not a financial year, therefore revenue and passenger numbers have been adjusted to suit.

Ongoing the data will be compared to the ‘base year’ which is 2019. This is due to an addendum sent out by ACI regarding the 2020 calendar year and use of the carbon emission data collected during this year being void from the programme due to the effects of COVID19 on global travel, airport usage and therefore emissions.

Hamilton Airport has continued to collect the data throughout the 2020 calendar year as it is important to compare and acknowledge the patterns and fluctuations in data.

After the base year data is recorded and Level 1 Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) is achieved, the Airport will develop a Carbon Management Plan that outlines carbon emission reduction targets.

To achieve higher levels under ACA we need to reduce carbon emissions over a sustained period of time. As part of a sustainability commitment Hamilton Airport will also establish other ways of protecting the environment and minimising waste and use of natural resources.  

Other subsidiaries in the Group also have obligations for their professional accreditations that require a commitment to managing their environmental footprint and carbon/emissions reduction, such as:

• Jet Park Hamilton Airport Hotel:
  • Tiaki Promise, Qualmark 4-star Hotel, Qualmark Silver Enviro, Tourism New Zealand Sustainability Commitment.
• Hamilton & Waikato Tourism:
  • Tiaki Promise, Tourism New Zealand Sustainability Commitment.

REVIEW

This policy shall be reviewed at least every 2 years as part of regular company policy reviews.

APPROVED BY WRAL MANAGEMENT

Approval date:                      July 2021

Next review date:                July 2023