Climate Change

Given that airport business partners contribute over 60% of HKIA's carbon footprint, the AA works closely with the airport community under an airport-wide approach to set targets, implement carbon reduction measures, and drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. The HKIA Carbon Reduction Programme is a platform for the airport community to measure, reduce and report carbon emissions and share best practices. Since 2008, the AA and airport business partners have made two pledges to reduce HKIA's airport-wide carbon emissions.

• In 2008, the AA and 40 business partners pledged to reduce airport-wide carbon intensity by 25% by 2015 from a 2008 baseline.
• In 2016, the AA and 53 business partners made a second airport-wide carbon reduction pledge to further reduce carbon intensity by 10% by 2020, compared with 2015 levels. 

Details of HKIA’s carbon emissions are available in the AA Sustainability Report 2020/21.

Long-term Carbon Reduction Target

In April 2020, the AA commenced a study to set a new long-term airport-wide carbon reduction target. The study concluded with a recommended target that aligns with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario, the HKSAR Government's 2050 carbon neutrality target and the Airports Council International (ACI) Long Term Carbon Goal of Net Zero Carbon by 2050. The new absolute emission reduction target is:

• The AA and its key aviation-related business partners commit to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050, with a midpoint target of 55% absolute emissions reduction by 2035 from a 2018 baseline.

Business Partners Engagement

To achieve the proposed midpoint target, the AA has established a carbon management action plan and a Business Partners Carbon Support Programme which includes key pillars on:

• Finance – a dedicated Green Innovation and Technology Fund to help pilot new technologies and accelerate decarbonisation;
• Governance – a structure comprised of key stakeholders across the airport to tighten partnership and accelerate decision making;
• Technology and innovation – an airport-wide approach to coordinate and streamline efforts to identify, evaluate and pilot new technologies; and
• Capacity building – an airport-wide tailored capacity building programme to develop the necessary skills and awareness required across the airport community to achieve the target.

In addition, the AA developed the Carbon Audit System as an online reporting platform to calculate and monitor HKIA's airport-wide carbon emissions. Business partners participating in the programme can use the system at no cost, enabling them to calculate and analyse their carbon performance on a single unified platform.

The AA has developed the Weather Forecast for Air-conditioning Control System (Weather FACTS) and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to enhance HKIA's energy efficiency.

Weather FACTS automatically collects hourly weather data, such as temperature, humidity, cloud amount, wind direction, wind speed and solar radiation, from the Hong Kong Observatory, and HKIA’s own flight index, passenger flow and seawater temperature information. It employs big data and machine learning to forecast the cooling demand of T1 over the next 24 hours. Based on the forecast, the chiller system is set to deliver the appropriate amount of cooling volume needed, eliminating unnecessary energy consumption.

HKIA is the first airport in the world to adopt such a predictive control model for an air conditioning system. Together with the replacement of two new 5,000-refrigerant tonne chillers in 2021, an estimated 5.1 gigawatt hours of electricity could be saved annually, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of nearly 1,200 CLP residential customers. The same system will be implemented in other passenger facilities, including the new T2 Concourse of the 3RS, to further optimise our energy efficiency.

The AA has also developed BESS to cope with HKIA’s continued growth and need for a backup power supply. This is the largest battery storage system in Hong Kong, and contains over 400 lithium batteries, equivalent to more than 55,000 pieces of 10,000 mAh portable power banks. BESS, which operates without fuel, is more environmentally friendly than other existing backup generators and can efficiently store up electricity generated from routine testing of backup generators for future use, such as providing power in the event of an emergency.