Riga Airport joins Net Zero 2050 initiative

On Tuesday, 6 July 2021, Riga Airport joined the Airport Council International (ACI) Europe initiative Net Zero 2050 thereby acknowledging its dedication to achieve complete reduction of CO2 emissions in the emission sources under direct control of the Airport until 2050.

After joining the Initiative, Riga Airport has undertaken to achieve that the company does not cause CO2 emissions in its basic operations or emissions that cannot be prevented or compensated with proper storage of similar amount of greenhouse emission gases until 2050. Riga Airport is ready to facilitate achievement of global climate goals and consider business transformation, developing a medium-term sustainability strategy until 2030 to achieve climate goals.

“Riga Airport continuously works on reduction of the amount of CO2 emissions. By taking several important measures, the Airport has managed to reduce the amount of emissions by 32% over the period of last five years. Riga Airport has been certified for Level 2 of Airport Carbon Accreditation, ACA programme and in 2020 it developed its first carbon management plan for 2020–2023. The plan includes new goals to reduce emissions until 2023 and aims to improve the Airport’s performance in achieving climate goals,” said the Chairperson of Board, Laila Odiņa. 

Jost Lammers, President of ACI EUROPE and CEO & President of Munich Airport commented: “Europe’s airports have been leading climate action with annual reductions achieved every year for over a decade. 172 of them have achieved climate certification by the global industry standard Airport Carbon Accreditation. However, our Net Zero commitment brings a new dimension to this endeavour – no offsets. Relaunching the pledge amidst the most severe crisis ever seen in modern times shows that the airport industry is aligning itself with the EU ambition to reach climate neutrality by 2050, embedded into the European Green Deal, as part of the global effort to address the Climate Emergency. 

I would like to commend Riga Airport for joining the ranks of airport leaders aligning their environmental targets with global climate goals.”

Electricity and fuel consumption are two main sources of emissions at Riga Airport. Therefore, the Airport plans to focus on reducing these emissions, for example, creating its first sun panel park and restoring service buildings making them more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. 

In the coming years, Riga Airport plans to certify for Level 3 of ACA programme that aims to reduce the emissions not under direct control of the Airport but are caused by the companies and organisations working at the Airport. 

More information in Latvian on the performance of Riga Airport in the environment field is available in the environment report on the company’s website: https://www.riga-airport.com/par-lidostu/vide/vides-parskati.  

Led by ACI EUROPE, the trade association for the European airport industry, NET Zero 2050 commitment was initially undertaken as part of the collective movement of European airports to reach Net Zero. The pledge, which was first launched in June 2019 and undersigned by 194 airports (operated by 40 airport operators across 24 European countries) marked a significant step change in the climate action ambitions for the European airport industry. More than 200 European airports have joined this initiative.