Sustainability focused on the areas of economic growth, social responsibility and environmental stewardship

Thursday 2 February 2012, Amsterdam

In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) defined sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainability focuses on the areas of economic growth, social responsibility and environmental stewardship, which are popularly known as the doctrines of the ‘triple bottom line’. In general, airport industry buyer category companies perceive initiatives towards ‘balancing financial, human and natural resources for long-term benefits’, ‘responding to customers for sustainable products and services’ and ‘efficient water and waste management’ to be important sustainability initiatives. However, analysis reveals that of respondents from airport industry supplier companies, 52% consider ‘responding to customers for sustainable products and services’, as the most important sustainability initiative, while 43% and 42% respectively consider ‘balancing financial, human, and natural resources for long-term benefits’ and ‘creating high-performance facilities with lower life cycle costs’ as important.

Social networks and interactive blogs are a key channel for communicating with customers and present an open forum for the sharing of new and innovative ideas. Increasingly, buyer companies are viewing social networks as progressive tools that not only promote sustainability but offer greater transparency. Moreover, the use of social networks as promotional channels is gaining importance among supplier companies.

Factors such as rising and fluctuating energy costs and airline industry financial pressures have made cost containment essential. Cost savings and operational efficiency can be attained through incentivizing the creation of new technologies, using existing resources efficiently, the multi-purpose use of new facilities, the minimization of waste and encouraging integrated design as a way of doing business.

A long-term sustainable business vision supports the ethical values of a company and improves corporate reputation. This is revealed in the findings of the Research Survey as 76% of respondents from airport operator companies and 58% from airport support services companies agree that ‘managing corporate reputation’ is one of the key drivers for companies to implement sustainability initiatives.

‘Positive outcomes for the environment’ have been mentioned as an important sustainability driver by respondents from both the buyer and supplier categories. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) forth assessment report in 2007, CO2 emissions from aviation currently account for approximately 2% of total global CO2 emissions. Although the contribution of aviation operations to total global CO2 emissions is relatively small, expected traffic growth make it essential to address. Sustainability efforts in the airport industry, therefore, focus on multi-tiered approaches comprising the development of technology, operational measures, and infrastructure to reduce fuel consumption and address impact on climate change.