Birmingham Airport (BHX) is more than a third of its way to becoming a net-zero-carbon operation, the UK hub announced.
In April the operator published its carbon roadmap setting out its plan to become a net-zero-carbon airport by 2033. According to new data, the Midlands transport hub was 37% of the way towards this goal in December 2022.
Decarbonisation wins in the 2022/23 financial year include BHX reducing its on-site gas and electricity consumption by 18% compared to 2019/20. Coupled with efforts by the national power grid to move to greener operations, this cut in energy use led to a 34% drop in greenhouse emissions at BHX against its 2019/20 benchmark.
Other contributions to this year’s progress include closer monitoring of energy use, energy-saving behaviour by BHX staff, replacing traditional lights with low-energy LEDs and optimising temperature-control systems.
Next year and beyond, BHX plans to change high-mast lighting to LEDs, invest in solar power, install smart metering and begin the transition from gas to electric heating.
Tom Denton, head of sustainability for BHX, said: “We are pleased with our progress so far but by no means complacent. Back in April when we first publicly committed to our aim of hitting net zero by 2033, we said the first two thirds of this journey would be relatively straightforward.
“The final third is where the real challenge lies. We want to do this the right way. We want to achieve net zero by implementing low-carbon alternatives with minimal use of offsetting.
“It’s likely we’ll need to use technology not yet invented to make it to our goal. Failure is not an option when it comes to protecting the future of our planet.”
Image: Birmingham Airport
