Developing a Sustainable Rating System for Airport Airsides

Abstract

Airports and aviation in general play a crucial role in the transportation network of society. More than 2,500 airports support an annual traffic of 4 billion passengers. However, this number is expected to continue increasing to 8 billion passengers in 2040 according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). At the same time, the climate change phenomenon gained popularity in the society, in which the aviation industry is responsible for 3.5%, and 2% of the CO2 emissions (major contributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions). If no change is made the share of CO2 emissions are estimated to reach 20% by 2050. Specifically in airports, there is a lack of guidance on how to make the airport’s airside more sustainable. Therefore, this study aims to develop a state-of-the-art sustainable rating system for airports airsides to be able to make the aviation industry more environmentally friendly. This is done based on research from the already existing rating systems for buildings and others considering infrastructures. The focus of the one developed in this study is on the environmental pillar of sustainability from an infrastructural point of view. The developed system was named as ‘Airport Rating System’ and it was found to be a technique that can be applied in a systematic way when designing airsides, making the word ‘sustainability’ tangible.