Destinations, flights, and services at Carcassonne Sud de France airport

Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) is a global certification programme for airports, recognised by international air transport bodies. It assesses and certifies airports’ efforts to manage and reduce their carbon emissions across seven accreditation levels. Its aim is to provide a common framework for active carbon management and enable the airport industry to reduce its energy consumption.

The green spaces around runways are home to a variety of animal and plant species, often specific to the area. Airports take a number of measures to limit the impact of their activities on the surrounding biodiversity.

Airports can decarbonise their operations through alternative energy sources by electrifying airside equipment and ground vehicles, providing charging points so that airlines with aircraft on the ground can avoid using the APU (auxiliary power unit), or supplying sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to those airlines.

Airports can limit their direct emissions by optimising their management of the natural resources (such as water, electricity and gas) used to run the airport infrastructure.

Airports can improve the management of the waste generated by their activities by introducing a policy for sorting and recycling non-hazardous waste (cigarette butts, travellers’ waste) and hazardous waste (engine oil, various pollutants from aircraft).

By installing solar panels, airports can supply themselves with sustainable electricity and optimise the use of their infrastructure.

Depending on the size of the airport, direct links with the city centre may be developed to optimise passenger flows and reduce car use.

Other eco-programmes refer to any other environmental action that the airport implements on its own initiative.

An airport’s environmental footprint is proportional to its passenger traffic, as are the measures it can take to reduce it. The Airports & Travel Eco-criterion therefore takes this factor into account.