Environment
We are proud of the contribution that George Best Belfast City Airport makes to the growing prosperity of Northern Ireland, not only as a major gateway for business and leisure passengers, but as a catalyst to direct and indirect employment opportunities in and around the airport. However, we are also aware that the operation of any airport can have an environmental impact.
Our policy is that: "through its programme of sustainable development, George Best Belfast City Airport is committed to achieving a balance between the social and economic benefits of the Airport's growth and its environmental impacts. We will work with all airport ‘stakeholders’ including, statutory authorities, airlines, business partners and local residents to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment".
Click here to see our full environmental policy in PDF format
GBBCA is a signatory to the Sustainable Aviation Strategy, a comprehensive strategy for the long term sustainability of the UK aviation industry. The initiative brings together the UK’s leading airlines, airports, aerospace manufacturers and air navigation service providers. Signatories to the strategy are committed to delivering significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, nitrogen oxide emissions and aircraft noise over the next 15 years.
Link to Sustainable Aviation website
In line with our policy commitment to minimise the impact of our operations on the community, we continue to monitor and, where possible, improve our environmental performance. GBBCA works closely with Business in the Community and ARENA network to develop and maintain an Environmental Management System (EMS) to the Green Dragon standard. We achieved Level 3 accreditation for our EMS in June 2010 and re-accreditation in July 2011.
As part of our Environmental Management System, we aim to address the following environmental impact areas:
For a number of years, we have participated in the Arena Network Environmental Benchmarking Survey, a tool which allows us to compare our environmental management and performance with that of top public and private sector organisations in Northern Ireland. In 2010, we were awarded Quintile 1 status with a score of 88% – 10% higher than in 2009 and 2% off Platinum status. In 2011, we were awarded Quintile 2 status with a score of 74%. While this represents a drop in Quintile compared with the previous year, it was not unexpected given that the survey was reviewed and revised in 2011 to make it more challenging.
Link to Arena Network Benchmarking Survey