Annual Report 2012 (PDF) - Hamburg

Sustainable environmental action
Technical innovations and new processes
Sustainable environmental work is an established component of the company philosophy.
Hamburg Airport’s Environmental Guidelines include the voluntary commitment to
improving environmental protection. Programmes and measures arising from this commitment
are subject to continual updating and adjustment. Beyond this, open and critical
dialog with the general public along with the promotion of environmental awareness
amongst employees are also part of Hamburg Airport’s proactive environmental
policy. “Effective environmental protection for our inner-city airport incorporates the
obligation to respond appropriately to the special demands of the location and the surrounding
area,” emphasises Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO at Hamburg Airport.
Award-winning: climate protection put into action at
Hamburg Airport
Hamburg Airport leads the way with its successful waste
water handling, landscape care and noise-protection windows,
all of which have been recognised according to international
standards. The airport’s Environment Management
System, certified according to EMAS (Eco Management
and Audit Scheme) and ISO 14.001, systematically determines
the environmental impact of airport operations in order
to reduce or balance impact with environmental programmes.
The current Environment Programme runs from
2011 to 2014. The measures mandated therein are targeted
at reducing Hamburg Airport’s carbon footprint by a total of
5 percent in comparison to 2010.
Thanks to its committed environmental work, Hamburg
Airport received Airport Carbon Accreditation in 2011. The
airport had set out to achieve Level 2 accreditation (CO 2
measurement and reduction) and producing less greenhouse
gases in the future. “We have set ourselves a target
of a 15 percent reduction in CO 2
by 2020,” explains Axel
Schmidt, Director of the Environmental Protection Centre at
Hamburg Airport. Annual data must be recorded in order to
fulfill the Airport Carbon Accreditation requirements. On the
basis of these figures, a logical and effective concept has
been put together to reduce CO 2
emissions. Annual measurements
of emission levels (carbon footprint) allow for regular
assessment of the effectiveness of the concept, which
is helping to identify solutions for alternatively powered
vehicles.
Hamburg Airport won the GreenFleet® Award 2012 for
its pioneering economically and ecologically efficient fleet
management last year. The award programme is operated
by a subsidiary of TÜV SÜD. The current Hamburg Airport
Group’s fleet consists of 42 biomethane tugs, six biomethane
buses and 14 other biomethane vehicles. These vehicles
are refuelled directly at the airport’s on-site facility. Other
vehicles include one tug fitted with a fuel cell, two electric
vehicles and two hydrogen-powered vehicles. The use
of the hydrogen vehicles results in an annual saving of 528
tonnes of CO 2
.
Heating levels have been lowered and air conditioning
temperatures (cooling) raised as an operative climate
protection measure. The thermolabyrinth under Terminal
1 pre-warms and/or pre-cools the air, reducing the energy
consumption of the air conditioning. The annual savings
achieved here are approx. 400 tonnes of CO 2
. The proportion
of climate-neutral electricity in purchased electricity
has also been doubled, and more eco-lightbulbs have being
installed.
Aircraft take the electricity they need, along with heating
and air conditioning, from the airport’s supply lines at the
Pier handling positions. The integration of the S-Bahn metro
rail network into the transport mix (25 percent of passengers
come by rail) has enabled the airport to record an annual
saving of 577 tonnes of CO 2
(in the airport vicinity).
Passive and active noise protection to improve the
noise situation
Despite increased passenger numbers in recent years, the
noise footprint has shrunk by around 40 percent since 1997,
thanks to proactive environmental work. The airport has invested
around 38 million euros in passive noise protection
in the community over the past years, well beyond the legal
requirement, aimed at sustainable safeguarding of the site.
To date, the eight voluntary Noise Protection Programmes
conducted by Hamburg Airport have resulted in over 15,000
households being provided with noise-protection windows
free of charge, and more than 9,300 soundproof ventilators
have been installed. As part of the new legally mandated
programme, which commenced with the definition of the
new noise protection zones by the regulatory authority in
the spring of last year, the airport is investing over 10 million
euros to provide speedy assistance to additional affected
parties. Active noise protection promotes the direct reduc-
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