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Axios Dallas
Dallas Love Field reaches carbon neutrality
By Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi,
2024-05-16
Dallas Love Field is carbon neutral, after over a decade of reducing its emissions.
The big picture: The international Airport Carbon Accreditation program encourages airports to track and cut their emissions, tracking their progress over accreditation levels from 1-5.
Love Field announced this week that it's reached Level 4, after establishing long-term plans for aligning with the Paris Agreement on climate action.
Why it matters: Only five U.S. airports and two Texas airports — Love Field and DFW Airport — have achieved level 4 or higher in the ACA program.
How it works: ACA says carbon neutrality happens after an airport has mapped its emissions sources, reduced its carbon footprint and engaged "third parties" to do the same.
To make up for its emissions that can't be completely eliminated, an airport can provide funds to other projects that reduce carbon dioxide to achieve neutrality.
Net zero carbon emissions is the end goal, where airports work with their "entire ecosystem" of suppliers, airlines and employees to "significantly reduce their absolute carbon emissions."
Zoom out: Only 14 airports in the world have reached a net zero balance, the highest level of accreditation — 13 are in Europe and one is in New Zealand.
State of play: Love Field said its conservation measures included designing new buildings with high sustainability standards, establishing electric vehicle infrastructure and replacing existing vehicles and equipment with more efficient versions.
The City of Dallas also purchases renewable energy certificates to source more green, renewable electricity through wind power. The airport says it invested in "high-quality" carbon credits from 2020-2022 to offset its residual emissions, and plans to continue doing so in the future.
Reality check: Aircraft emissions still have a long way to go . The Biden administration and international leaders are trying to reach net-zero aviation emissions by 2050 .
What's next: Love Field wants to achieve net zero carbon by 2040, hoping to get there a decade before many of its peers.
The airport is establishing a sustainability master plan for areas such as water conservation and diversion.
Meanwhile: DFW Airport, which says it was the first and largest carbon neutral airport in the Americas, wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
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