Energy and climate

Net zero by 2040: Zurich Airport Group's climate protection ambition.

Relevance

Of the known greenhouse gases, only carbon dioxide (CO₂) is emitted in any significant quantity at Zurich Airport. Each year, therefore, Flughafen Zürich AG records the CO₂ emitted by each of its airports in an emissions inventory in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Other greenhouse gases, such as those emitted by refrigerants for example, are recorded as CO₂ equivalents. All greenhouse gas sources are allocated to different spheres of influence known as “scopes”. Scope 1 comprises sources within the company. At Zurich Airport these mainly include heating systems, in-house electricity generation and the vehicle fleet. Scope 2 relates to emissions resulting from generation of the energy purchased from external suppliers. Finally, Scope 3 covers all other airport-related sources (e. g. ground handling and aircraft, including flights to the final destination) plus sources from upstream and downstream processes, for example in connection with landside access traffic, energy production or waste disposal. At over 99%, by far the majority of emissions arising at Zurich Airport as a whole fall into Scope 3.

The priority for the company is to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1 and 2). Flughafen Zürich AG will also actively encourage its airport partners to make significant cuts to their emissions as well (Scope 3). At the same time it is taking on the challenge of addressing the impacts of climate change and adapting its business model and infrastructure accordingly.

Climate protection is a global challenge. The majority-owned airports in Brazil and Chile are also recording their greenhouse gas emissions for Scopes 1 and 2. After its commissioning phase, the airport currently under construction in Noida, India is aiming to operate with net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Approach and progress

Net zero by 2040

Alongside energy demand, the second focal point is generating renewable energy. The use of geothermal technology offers the greatest potential here. As many as twenty years ago, Flughafen Zürich AG began utilising geothermal technology in Dock E to meet the majority of the dock's heating and cooling energy requirements. Since then, further systems for supplying the Circle and parts of the maintenance complex have been added. During the reporting year, exploratory work also began on investigating the feasibility of using central underground geothermal storage. This has the potential to replace most of the fossil fuels currently used. Until then, the company plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing a quantity of biogas, and subsequently synthetic gas, which will enable existing systems to be operated with far lower greenhouse gas emissions.

To meet its electricity needs, Flughafen Zürich AG purchases fossil-free grid electricity. It also generates some electricity in-house in its heating plant and from solar panels, more of which are continually being added.

Besides buildings, the second main source of emissions at the Zurich site are the company's vehicles. Many of the vehicles used today are already electric powered. The reduction roadmap outlines the full transition to electric vehicles, powered either by batteries or hydrogen. This transition is already underway, and the replacement of further vehicles such as passenger buses is also planned. The increasing number of battery-powered vehicles will necessitate further expansion of the charging infrastructure. The first airside rapid charging point came into operation during the year under review. Thanks to more flexible charging options, this will help to extend the range of uses for electric vehicles.

Airport Carbon Accreditation

The three majority-owned subsidiaries in Brazil also signed up to ACA during the reporting year. The airports in Florianópolis, Vitória and Macaé were accredited at level one, which signifies they are recording all their greenhouse gas emissions. All three airports have also set themselves the goal of reaching the second level in 2023.

Large-scale consumers agreement

As a large-scale energy consumer, Flughafen Zürich AG has signed an agreement with the Building Department of the Canton of Zurich. This requires the company to make average annual efficiency savings of 2% until 2030, measured on the basis of the heated area of the airport and the number of user units (passengers, freight, other visitors). In return it is exempted from implementing some specific cantonal regulations. The target for specific energy consumption was met in the reporting period.

Energy and climate leader

Participation in the Swiss Confederation's “Exemplary Energy and Climate” initiative further underlines Flughafen Zürich AG's pioneering role in energy and climate protection. As part of this initiative it is implementing concrete measures to improve energy efficiency, to expand renewable energy sources and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable fuels

In order to contribute to lowering aviation-related greenhouse gas emissions beyond the airport as well, Flughafen Zürich AG is committed to the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). SAF is fuel made from biogenic waste or synthetically manufactured fuel, and over the course of its life cycle it produces at least 80% lower carbon emissions than fossil-based kerosene. Flughafen Zürich AG supports and encourages the use of SAF among its partners at Zurich Airport and in the rest of Switzerland, as well as at its other locations abroad.

Flughafen Zürich AG has itself signed an agreement with ETH spin-off Synhelion, a company that plans to use new technology to produce synthetic fuel at scale from water, CO₂ and solar energy. This agreement commits Flughafen Zürich AG to purchasing fuel at cost price from a test facility, probably from some time in 2023, for use in its vehicles and machines at Zurich Airport.

Situation in the reporting year

Along with widely fluctuating prices, the great uncertainty surrounding the availability of fuel and electricity made the provision of energy to users during the reporting year extremely challenging. Flughafen Zürich AG did everything possible to balance the needs of operational continuity, cost and climate protection. It carefully scrutinised its operations to find ways of saving energy, and consequently identified many measures for reducing energy demand. Some were actioned immediately, for instance reducing the frequency of Skymetro, switching off lights and screens at night, and reducing the building temperature. Numerous other measures were documented in a catalogue so they can be triggered by the crisis team in the event of shortages.

There was therefore a slight decrease in the total energy requirement at Flughafen Zürich AG compared with the previous year. Whereas demand for electricity rose, it was possible to reduce the heating requirement, which depends greatly on the weather conditions. This is due, among other things, to the increased use of waste heat at the Circle so that virtually no heat from external sources had to be sourced.

The central heating plant at Flughafen Zürich AG, which produces most of the airport's heat, can be operated with both gas and heating oil. In the year under review, much less gas and more oil was used, which had a negative impact on CO₂ emissions, as oil has a much larger emission factor than gas. Nevertheless, the CO₂ emissions of the central heating plant were reduced overall. This was because, on the one hand, heating requirements were lower than average owing to the mild autumn and lack of a cold spell and, on the other, because the purchase of biogas made it possible to save 1365 tonnes of CO₂. The greenhouse gas emissions of vehicles and machinery also declined slightly. Total greenhouse gas emissions in Scope 1 at Zurich Airport amounted to 29,043 tonnes in the reporting period, i.e. 10% lower than in the previous year. Emissions in Scope 2, of lesser importance compared with Scope 1, rose owing to the recovery in passenger volumes of 25% to 24 tonnes. Therefore, emissions in Scope 1 and 2 remained below the key threshold of 30,000 tonnes per year, the interim target for 2020. Owing to the substantial rise in traffic, the greenhouse gas emissions in Scope 3, determined primarily by emissions of aircraft en route to their destinations, reflected a sharp increase (+95%).

Key data

Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GRI 305 - 1, 305 - 2, 305 - 3)

Energy (GRI 302 - 1, 302 - 2, 302 - 3, 302 - 4)