As part of its commitment to environmental care and sustainable development, Carrasco International Airport (AIC) adopted new measures to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 % in the next years.
Since 2015, Carrasco Airport has been able to reduce carbon dioxide from 1,405 to 400 tons per year (69 %), which is equivalent to the annual fuel consumption of 240 cars or sowing 83 hectares of eucalyptus forests.
Among the main initiatives carried out so far are the installation of a photovoltaic solar power plant, the installation of a new thermal conditioning system throughout the building, a full shift towards the use of LED technology and various actions to reduce power consumption, such as automation of air conditioning systems.
In the first phase of this new stage, which took place in 2017, the air terminal registered to participate in the Airport Carbon Accreditation Program (ACA) under level 1 "Mapping", which entails measuring annual greenhouse gases emissions or carbon footprint.
This is a voluntary program, in which airports that wish to become certified and take action to protect the environment are registered.
After being awarded ACA certification and performing the carbon footprint test under ISO standards (International Organization for Standardization), which earned the terminal additional proof of their efforts to reduce these harmful gases, the Airport decided to increase the level of accreditation by moving to the second phase of the program, called "Reduction".
This implies taking on new goals and designing a management plan to reduce carbon emissions.
The air terminal has an Energy Management Plan in place that includes training and energy efficiency measures, which received the National Energy Efficiency Award.
Carrasco Airport has one of the lowest pollution rates per passenger, with 0.19 kilos of carbon dioxide per person, compared to 1.82 kilos in Melbourne (Australia) and 2.05 kilos in Madrid (Spain).
Together with these two airports and the Los Angeles Airport (USA), Carrasco is among the terminals that maintain a strong commitment to environmental efforts.
