Riga International Airport (RIX) has adopted a plan to become carbon neutral by the year of 2050 in a bid to combat the effects of climate change and to also address the European Union’s considerable effort to reduce CO2 emissions in the future.
Reducing Emissions Of The Airport
The “Net Zero 2050 Roadmap” will include a series of actions taken not only by the airport itself, but also by partner airlines. First of all, the most important step is to reduce all emissions caused by the airport such as fuel consumption. The board of directors has identified electricity, heating and fuel consumption to be the main contributors to a high level of carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, the plan is to reduce these as much as possible, preferably to zero, by 2050.
In order to combat these emissions the airport plans to build a solar panel park and switch exclusively to regenerable sources of energy. These sources will generate all the heat and electricity needed to keep the airport running. Another step is to switch to alternative fuels and to replace all lighting with efficient LED lights. A step towards improving the energy efficiency of the existing buildings will also be taken.
What About Other Emissions?
Unfortunately, the plan to reduce all carbon dioxide emissions is quite difficult. The airport can only do so much to reduce all its’ emissions, but there will also be other polluting factors such as aircraft. Therefore, the “Net Zero 2050 Roadmap” includes a dedicated plan to cooperate with airlines or other companies in order to reduce these as well.
Besides this, Riga International Airport will also cooperate with its stakeholders for the construction of Rail Baltica and the development of mass charging stations for electric vehicles. Rail Baltica is the infrastructure project mean to link the Baltic states with the rest of the European Railway Network. The plans are to construct a high-speed and energy efficient railway link to the airport.
“Riga Airport is ready to contribute to the achievement of global climate goals and to consider the necessary business transformation in advance. The Net Zero Roadmap is an essential complement to our sustainability strategy: we continue the dedicated work to reduce harmful emissions from Airport operations, including the possibility of becoming certified to a higher level of the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme in a few years”, declared Laila Odina, Chairperson of the Board of Riga International Airport.
What do you think about Riga International Airport’s measures to combat carbon dioxide emissions? Does the target seem doable? Let us know in the comments down below!
