Sustainability Team of the Year
daa has been awarded the prestigious Sustainability Team of the Year (1000 + Employees) at the 2024 Green Awards, where daa’s in house team was recognized for its outstanding contribution to building a more sustainable future. It was one of five awards daa was shortlisted for. “We are delighted to have won the Sustainability Team of the Year award at the 2024 Green Awards,” said Andrea Carroll, daa’s Group Head of Sustainability.
“This recognition highlights our ongoing commitment to reducing our carbon emissions and working towards a more sustainable future for our airports. Our Sustainability Team and wider colleagues working on sustainability across the business, along with our 150 sustainability ambassadors have been instrumental in embedding environmental sustainability across our business operations at home and abroad.” “We are acutely aware of the scale of the task of achieving the government’s target of a 51% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions at our airports by 2030, the ones we have direct control over. We are fully committed to delivering on these targets while we work in tandem with our aviation stakeholders to support the aviation sector’s transition to a more sustainable model for the future and addressing our Scope 3 emissions.”
The Green Awards, launched in 2008, serve as a platform for promoting sustainability intelligence, leadership, and innovation amongst businesses in Ireland. The awards recognise companies that have made significant strides in environmental protection and sustainability practices.
ESG Company (Enterprise) Award
A proud moment for the daa team as we won the “ESG Company (Enterprise) Award” at the Business & Finance Media Group ESG Awards. daa was also a finalist in two other categories: the Green Logistics Excellence Award, and the Energy Efficiency Initiative Award. These nominations are strong recognition of the concerted work being done by the daa team to meet our ambitious ESG targets, which sit at the heart of our operations.
Sustainability Ambassador Programme
Our sustainability ambassador programme consists of colleagues from across our group that volunteer to become change-makers and help develop a colleague-driven Climate Positive Culture across the daa group. Our ambassadors help drive awareness and actions in sustainability across every function in our business.
Each ambassador is supported to drive sustainability education, with a comprehensive guide to our sustainability ambitions being offered to ambassadors and rolled out to all colleagues. With an educated and empowered colleague base, driven by a Climate Positive Culture we know we can achieve our ambitious targets.
Reduce your use campaign
Like every energy user, winter is particularly energy-intensive for daa. In our case, we have millions of passengers to keep warm and terminals and runways that need ample lighting for safe and smooth running throughout the long hours of darkness. We established a team from across our business to create a plan to reduce our energy needs without compromising safety, warmth or comfort. We set a challenging target to reduce our energy use at Dublin and Cork airports by 10%, across our campuses from October to February.
Key actions include controlling heating at times to match flight schedules, staggering entrance door openings to reduce heat loss and monitoring lighting usages across the campus. These actions generated major energy savings of 32% at Dublin Airport and 25% at Cork Airport during the period October 1 to December 31 2022 against a 2019 baseline.
HVO Fleet
Dublin Airport has achieved a 90% reduction in carbon emissions from its airside vehicle by switching from diesel to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). HVO is now being used to power a total of 101 vehicles, which represents 46% present of our airside fleet and will save 400 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
The switch follows the roll-out of a successful trial in April & May 2023, involving 12 vehicles, which led to a 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the use of diesel. Dublin Airport is aiming for two-thirds of its vehicles to be powered by HVO by the end of 2023. This is in addition to the commitment made to transition the airport’s entire light fleet to electric vehicles by 2025.
Hedgerows On Our Campuses
We are committed to managing our airport’s ecosystems in order to enhance their biodiversity value and address key causes of biodiversity loss. Among the commitments we make in our Biodiversity Plan is to plant native species.
Dublin Airport currently manages over 11km of hedgerow and its land. Hedgerows are important habitats in the Irish landscape providing food and shelter for insects, birds and small mammals. Without hedges, many birds and small mammals that rarely venture more than a few metres from cover, could become isolated and vulnerable. A hedged landscape also helps regulate water flow and protect water quality by trapping nutrients and sediment as they flow overland before they enter watercourses.
In 2022 we created over 200 metres of new hedgerow at Dublin Airport and allocated funding to plant 900 metres more in Spring 2023. This is upcoming planting will use native species both for new lengths of hedgerow and for adding to existing hedgerows, maximising the benefits for local biodiversity.
Cork Airport Runway Reconstruction
The Cork Airport Runway Reconstruction was a critically important project for Cork Airport and the South of Ireland. At the same time, a significant national road project, the Dunkettle Interchange was underway approximately 8km from the airport. Engineers deemed that the waste materials from the runway site could serve as excellent base and structural fill material for the interchange.
Approximately 10,200 cubic metres of material from the site was duly reused on this project. The Dunkettle Project did not have to source the equivalent volume of virgin material and Cork Airport avoided sending a substantial amount of this material to landfill.
Further by-products were produced by Phase 1 of our external and campus road projects. All 640 cubic metres of rad base materials were reused, to repair and maintain the laydown area, which eventually returned to use as a carpark. During Phase 2, topsoil from verge works was reused by our Asset Management teams for maintaining the flowerbeds and our wildflower meadows, across our airport campuses. and the winter
daa Unveils 20-Point Plan To Accelerate Environmental Sustainability Ambitions At Dublin And Cork Airports
daa, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, has today unveiled details of 20 environmental sustainability initiatives being rolled out at Dublin and Cork Airports, which will accelerate both airports’ climate and sustainability related ambitions, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. The projects are also matched by a planned investment of more than €400 million as part of the company’s recent Infrastructure Application to Fingal County Council, that will make operations at Dublin Airport amongst the most environmentally friendly of any peer airport in Europe. daa is committed to ensuring sustainable growth to meet Ireland’s current and future international connectivity needs.
Attendees at the launch event in Dublin city centre heard what daa is doing to reduce its own (Scope 1 and Scope 2) emissions at Dublin and Cork airports, and also how the airport operator is committed to working hand-in-hand with airlines and other companies in the aviation sector to reduce the environmental impact of their operations (Scope 3 emissions). Such initiatives at Dublin Airport include a 90% reduction in carbon emissions from airside vehicles by switching from diesel to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO); investigating on site solar; Ground Fleet Electrification; participating in government taskforces on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and Hydrogen to accelerate these alternatives.
The 20 initiatives announced by daa include:
- Making Dublin Airport diesel free, with all owned vehicles previously powered by diesel switching to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).
- The light vehicle fleets at both Dublin and Cork airports being 100% electric by the end of 2024.
- The submission of a planning application for a 1.8 million-kilowatt solar farm at Cork Airport.
- Improving air quality at bus stations at both Dublin and Cork airports with innovative photobioreactor technology.
- The fast-tracking of a shared bikes project for Dublin Airport.
- The completion of work on over 20 additional electric vehicle parking spaces at Dublin Airport.
- Cork Airport to upgrade its apron lighting to energy-efficient LED technology.
- New interventions to increase rainwater harvesting, water reuse and the earlier detection of water leaks.
- Improvements in lighting and Ground Support Equipment (GSE), are also on the airport operator’s roadmap.
daa is also participating in the government’s “Decarbonisation – Reduce Your Use” campaign, which will play a significant role in engaging all colleagues as part of initiatives being undertaken this year.
Speaking at a launch event in Dublin city centre, Kenny Jacobs, daa’s CEO, expressed his enthusiasm for the sustainability initiatives, saying: “Sustainability sits at the heart of everything that daa is doing and has planned for the years ahead. The 20 projects we’re announcing details of today align with our commitment to meet Ireland’s ongoing international connectivity needs while ensuring safe, efficient, and sustainable growth. With a wide range of projects already planned for this year, we are dedicated to fast-tracking our achievement of net-zero by 2050 at the latest.”
Jack Chambers TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, welcomed daa’s initiatives, saying :
“I am delighted to hear about the range of sustainability initiatives daa has planned for Dublin and Cork Airports, all of which support daa’s ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These initiatives are broad-ranging and innovative and demonstrate daa’s continued commitment to meeting their sustainability goals.”
daa was presented with the Smarter Travel Mark by National Transport Authority at the event, which is awarded to organisations with a broad range of measures in place that support sustainable travel. daa announced earlier in the week that it has secured commitments from bus operators that they will deliver a seat for every passenger from 2024 onwards, with more than 35 million bus seats expected to be available by 2025.
Speaking at the event alongside Kenny Jacobs and Minister Jack Chambers, were daa’s Andrea Carroll, Group Head of Sustainability; Vincent Harrison, Chief Commercial and Development Officer; and Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director of Cork Airport.
The speakers shared a series of key presentations highlighting sustainability plans for this year at both Dublin and Cork airports, including 20 key projects and initiatives underway and planned for 2024 to progress daa’s sustainability ambitions.