good news

So Christchurch airport is going carbon-neutral, only the second airport in the world to do so. Excellent news. There’s only one thing that confuses me:

…and energy, electricity is by far the biggest contributor to our carbon foot print from this site .

I would’ve assumed aircraft engines would’ve been the biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of an airport. Especially in the case of Christchurch, which would get most of its electricity from the South Island’s numerous hydropower stations. Oh well, doesn’t matter, really, going carbon neutral is the key thing here, and good on them for doing it.

About the Author

wangbo

A Kiwi teaching English to oil workers in Beijing, studying Chinese in my spare time, married to a beautiful Beijing lass, consuming vast quantities of green tea (usually Xihu Longjing/西湖龙井, if that means anything to you), eating good food (except for when I cook), missing good Kiwi ale, breathing smog, generally living as best I can outside Godzone and having a good time of it.

2 thoughts on “good news

  1. wangbo,

    Thanks for your congratulations on achieving carbon neutrality. This is a move that CIAL has taken in recognition that the aviation indutry in general is a significant contributer of GHG’s.

    Rather than be overwhelmed by the challenge at a global level, we feel that by accounting for our operational emissions and committing to an ongoing programme of management and reduction we are demostrating that change can be achieved.

    It was important to us that we attain this status before we engaged our airline customers in discussions to identify ways in which we can assist them in addressing the emmissions generated by their operations.

    We see this as the beginning of a long and important journey and are encouraged by the initiatives NZ based airlines have already made in reducing their GHG emmissions.

  2. Rhys, whenever I see Kiwis doing good things for the environment, I’ll support it, and to be honest, the idea of a carbon-neutral airport blew me away. Excellent work.

    I take it from your comment that emissions from aircraft engines are not included? Are the airlines taking responsibilty for that?

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