Sihanoukville International Airport Obtains Higher-Level ACA Environmental Recognition
The Sihanoukville International Airport airport obtained Level 3 accreditation ‘Optimisation” from the Airports Council International (ACI) which means that the decarbonisation of the Cambodian airport's activities extends to commercial partners, airlines, authorities, and users.
The Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) was introduced in 2009 on the initiative of the Airports Council International Europe (ACI EU). The ACA program requires the monitoring of the airport's carbon footprint and the implementation of actions to reduce the footprint over the years.
The latest certification of the Sihanoukville International Airport upgrades means that Cambodia Airports continues on its mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while engaging stakeholders to curb their own emissions. In 2024, Phnom Penh International Airport, also powered by VINCI Airports, attained ACA Level 3.
Cyril GIROT, CEO of Cambodia Airports, said: “We are continuing our commitment onward with respect to fighting climate change, intensifying our efforts in every possible way to substantiate our vision for Positive Mobility. Having our partners join concrete actions that we have implemented bodes well for our next accomplishments. I want to express my appreciation to them and to our personnel for their crucial contribution.”
A press release from Cambodia Airports suggested that to achieve the Level 3 milestone, the "airport has invested heavily and
deployed multi-pronged initiatives". These include:
- Commissioning efficient chiller systems for the central air conditioning
- Replacing all light sources with LED technologies
- Putting in place automatic systems to reduce and optimize energy consumption in the main
buildings - Awareness campaigns across the airport community encouraging specific behaviours towards carbon
management and reduction
As part of the airport’s Stakeholder Engagement Program, it has included third parties, such as restaurants, fuel suppliers, and airliners, into the initiative, extending its benefits to the entire airport community and beyond.
The global carbon management certification program is independently verified and has 7 stages of certification and requires airports to set a roadmap to reach Net Zero emissions on its Scope 3 by the year 2050.
In December 2023, ACI launched this new accreditation Level 5, and Level 5 accreditation has only been awarded to 10 airports worldwide by September 2024 - four of them are developed and operated by VINCI Airports, the parent company of Cambodia Airports.