Two airports in London, Heathrow and Gatwick, earned multiple certifications to the Carbon Trust Standard for their exceptional environmental performance. Heathrow has become the first airport in the world (and only the fifth organization in the world) to simultaneously hold four certifications, while Gatwick is now one of only a handful of organizations to hold triple certification.
The Carbon Trust Standard is a world-recognized independent certification awarded for progress in environmental performance across two year periods. The Carbon Trust added its Standard for Waste and Standard for Water in 2013 and its supply chain certification in 2015, alongside that for carbon. Those awarded this spring are based on corporate performance between January 2014 through December 2015.
Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in the United Kingdom, was recognized for reducing its carbon emissions by 5%, reducing its overall water use by 3.9% and 3.1 % per passenger, and reducing its waste by 3.1% per passenger. Heathrow is the first airport and fifth organization in the world to receive the Standard for Supply Chain.
The airport’s top 20 suppliers account for 76% of its total supply chain carbon emissions. To influence these and its other suppliers, the company established the Heathrow Sustainability Partnership, a forum to deliver practical solutions such as the airport’s Energy Code of Practice.
Heathrow Airport has succeeded switching 70,000 lights across the airport to LEDs, retiring its old terminal 1 along with its out-of-date toilet and pipe systems, and composting 1,800 tonnes of food waste.
To build on its progress this year, Heathrow released new guidelines for its food and beverage retailers to help reach sustainability targets, and revealed plans for a web portal aimed at consolidating freight loads to decrease the amount of trucks generating emissions around the airport.
