Just before the end of last year, Swedavia became one of the first airport operators in the world to have the operations it runs under its own management at its ten airports be fossil-free.
Swedavia is now extending that work to supporting other companies and organisations at its airports in transforming their operations, with a special focus on reducing climate impact of the Swedish aviation industry.
Today Swedavia runs extensive airport operations across Sweden that just a decade ago generated about 8,000 tonnes of fossil carbon dioxide each year. That figure has now been reduced to zero.
As a result of this work to more sustainable operations, among the changes made, all of the airports today are powered by and heated and cooled with renewable energy, back-up power units run on renewable fuel, and Swedavia’s fleet of vehicles runs on electricity or renewable fuel.
“Swedavia wants to be a driving force in reducing climate impact. So I am incredibly proud that our own airport operations, some of the first in the world, are now free from fossil carbon dioxide emissions. This is a result of relentless work that has required a sense of purpose, investments, innovation and collaboration with partners to reach a goal that many had thought was not possible,” says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO.
For some equipment, no fossil-free alternatives were available, which required creative solutions from employees but also innovation and development in dialogue with suppliers. The areas of development include everything from smaller machine equipment such as electric paint machines to larger snow removal vehicles that run on biogas. The focus has also been on developing more efficient machines to reduce the use of fuel as well as the numbers of machines.
“Swedavia’s airports are part of a larger transport system, and being fossil-free now in our own operations is obviously just one milestone. We are now intensifying the work to support other companies and organisations that operate at the airports to adapt to more sustainable operations and above all to enable aviation’s climate change transition through investments in bio aviation fuel and by preparing our airports for electric aviation. Aviation is absolutely essential in order for our modern society to function, but the transport of the future must be fossil-free, so continued hard work is needed,” says Jonas Abrahamsson.
