Through its facilities, in 2022, 243,681,775 visitors passed. Business men and women or simply tourists. These are the passenger figures for the Aena airport network in the past and to these must be added other numbers such as the planes that arrived and left its terminals, tons of waste generated, water consumed or gigawatts used to light the facilities. All these figures have been monitored for a decade by Ana Salazar López-Pedraza, head of sustainability at the Spanish airport manager. At the beginning “it was controlled that consumption did not skyrocket, now the approach is more solid”, she replies. Two years ago, the Spanish listed company presented its sustainability strategy to reach zero emissions by 2040 and “it is a great challenge.” A challenge due to the number of visitors and the different actors involved in airport activity. “We demand the same standards that we set ourselves, so we can help decarbonise the sector,” she explains. Although, “there are some delays,” she is optimistic about the planning.
-In 2021, they presented their sustainability strategy, what is that roadmap like?
-We know the importance of air transport in the world economy and also its negative environmental aspect. We are aware that we have to minimize this impact, but without reducing the benefit of this transport for society. This is, a bit, the motivation to approve our 2022-2026 strategic plan, where sustainability is a key enabler and, above all, inherent to the entire organization, our commitment is non-negotiable. At the moment, it is difficult to reduce this environmental impact because in some areas the technological solutions are immature. However, the materialization of our 2021-2030 sustainability strategy is a huge challenge, because we are in a situation where regulations are continually changing, adapting and tightening. This leads us to a continual review.
-If you had to put a percentage of application of that strategy, what would it be?
I’d say let’s go. on time, although we have small delays in some sections, but we also have advances or anticipation of advance.
– In parallel, the Climate Action Plan 2021-2030 is also being developed. What is the degree of compliance with the latter?
-It is a very important issue in our company due to the enormous impact that climate change has, not only worldwide, but especially in aviation. The latest IPCC report is quite pessimistic and marks 2035 as the deadline to drastically reduce CO2 emissions to avoid dramatic consequences. Two years ago we published this plan associated with a governance mechanism and also to render accounts to our investors, it is alive because the situation requires it. To achieve decarbonization, the mobilization of all sectors worldwide is necessary. We have two important commitments: carbon neutrality in 2026 and zero emissions in 2040. All the actions and measures implemented in this regard are focused on energy efficiency, the implementation of renewable energies, sustainable mobility, the reduction of CO2 emissions and in the decarbonisation of processes and activities in our value chain. By 2022, our goal was a 70% reduction in carbon emissions and we have exceeded it. We have made many advances in the purchase of sustainable fuels, electric vehicles, the deployment of charging points and, in addition, we have carried out feasibility studies for the use of geothermal energy in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
Are these studies viable?
-Yeah. It will cover 100% of the heating needs in Madrid and Palma de Mallorca, while in Barcelona due to the water table the percentage will be lower but will be complemented with aerothermal energy. All this allows us to cover the air conditioning with this completely clean energy and replace gas or diesel boilers that are a source of significant emissions.
«Hydrogen for aviation will take time to arrive»
-On your way to decarbonisation, you are committed to electrification and also hydrogen in El Prat. What do you expect from this energy vector?
-It has various uses in the airport environment. On the one hand, it is interesting for stationary activities, where, for example, the hydrogen cell is very efficient from a storage point of view, and then it can also be used for electric vehicles. What we want to do is test this technology in an airport environment and carry out the necessary studies with a view to safety, because hydrogen has certain characteristics that need to be made compatible with safety regulations. This solution is more evolved than aviation hydrogen, which will take time to arrive. In Barcelona, we are studying how to work with it because it is stored at very low temperatures and very high pressure, which makes logistics difficult because the pipes that now transport natural gas are not compatible, so it would have to be liquefied in airport facilities. Right now, the use of the new aviation fuels for stationary use and for ground mobility requires major modifications to airports. So, hydrogen will not arrive from today to tomorrow, but planning does have to be in place so as not to delay decarbonization.
-So, does this decarbonization go through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)?
-Exactly. The SAF is 100% compatible with the airport installation at this time, because the composition of this fuel and that of conventional kerosene is the same. We have a network of pipes that connect the main refineries on the peninsula and it is an extremely efficient system with no emissions derived from this transport.
-If we have the infrastructure and it can be produced, what is the barrier for that SAF to reach the planes?
-The barrier is in the price, because the SAF is between three and six times more expensive than conventional kerosene. What we are doing at Aena is launching a bonus so that the airlines that use this fuel have a discount on the landing fee and thus are able to offset this additional cost. One third of airlines’ fixed costs is fuel and a significant price increase hits them hard.
-They hope to reach zero emissions in 2030, the carbon footprint is divided into 3 legs. Scope 1 and 2 are easy, but Scope 3 is more complicated due to aviation issues…
-The impact of passengers, we count it as an Aena operation inside the terminal and, for example, how they come is considered outside the terminal. What we want and pursue is for our airports to be hubs for sustainable mobility and for this what we are doing is enabling clean energy supply points whatever the mode of transport used by the passenger. In our car parks we are carrying out a huge deployment of charging points for electric cars and for public transport we are working on the installation of hydrogen generators so that hydrogen intercity buses arrive at the airport and can be recharged at our facilities. We have also focused on restaurants and shops and what we are doing here is aligning our sustainability requirements with those that we include in the specifications or in the competitions, so that the companies that work for us have the same sustainability standards. than ourselves.
“A breach in sustainability has to be well explained, because it is a financial risk”
-Sustainability is not only environmental, but also social. Recently, it has been the day of awareness about noise and it is the second environmental factor that most affects health after air pollution. The planes are noisy and there are nearby towns, how do you work in this area?
-The issue of noise is very mature at Aena, because we have been working on this issue for many years. We work in two areas and the first one is the measurement and control of noise. We are clear about the maximum limits and we make a report both to the neighborhood and to the competent administrations in penalizing matters. In Spain, there is a regulation that establishes acoustic easements that define the area in which the acoustic quality objectives can be exceeded. In these areas, the houses are isolated so that within them they can comply. Then also other series of measures established in the Official State Gazette (BOE) to reduce noise such as the prohibition of using the reverse of the engines when landing or the evolution of the fleet so that they are more efficient and less noisy.
-If the calculations do not fail me, this 2023 marks a decade related to environmental issues at Aena. How has the company evolved?
-I have seen a frankly incredible evolution. When I arrived at Aena, aircraft noise was closely managed, but the rest of the aspects that are now being dealt with were controlled but specific measures were applied to monitor water or energy consumption and a more solid approach had never been carried out. Our 2021-2030 sustainability strategy is solid and long-term, about ten years, and is heading towards zero emissions by 2040, which is an ambitious goal. In addition, we involve third parties. Our CO2 emissions are only 5% of the total of the Spanish aviation sector and with our actions we try to reduce our footprint and also facilitate and promote the sustainability of the rest of the actors. We have a commission that carries out a very exhaustive analysis of what is done and what is not done. A breach of our commitments has to be very well explained and has to have an associated contingency plan, because sustainability is in the focus of all investors and banking entities. Sustainability risk is associated with financial risk and if we want the price of money to be affordable for us, we have to manage sustainability to minimize that risk.
-Are investors very pushy?
-Very much, more and more.
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