Climate change and carbon management

Carbon Management Overview

Reducing and managing carbon emissions is an on-going priority for Edmonton International Airport.

As the most northern major airport in Canada, we have specific challenges that many airports around the world do not when it comes to managing our energy usage and carbon emissions. We also see the impacts of climate change and believe we must show leadership and action where we can.

We’re proud of our winter operations and have won North American awards keeping our airport operational in the cold temperatures we can experience. However, it can take a lot of energy to keep our terminal warm, fuel to operate our vehicle fleet and power to keep the lights on when the sun sets early. This energy usage is unavoidable, but we are acting to reduce this where we can.

Some of our carbon reduction and management initiatives include:

• Supporting the private investment and construction of Airport City Solar, the largest solar power farm at an airport anywhere in the world
• Installing a CoGeneration system to provide heat and power to the Air Terminal Building
  • Since starting operations in spring 2021, YEG has reduced our Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint by 20 percent and saved over $3 million in utility costs
  • This significant project has provided huge benefits to YEG, positioning us as a leader in the de-carbonization of Canadian Airports
• Converting all light fixtures to LED technology to reduce electricity usage
• Supporting innovation and new technology, such as new airplane heaters developed locally by Absolute Combustion and tested at YEG that use 50 per cent less energy and produce 50 per cent fewer emissions compared to existing units

Net-Zero Plans

YEG is on a path to supporting local, provincial, national and international decarbonization goals and currently participates in the Government of Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge.

• Read our Preliminary Net-Zero Plan (2023).
• Read our Comprehensive Net-Zero Plan (2024).

Programs and Certifications

• YEG is a member of the international Airport Carbon Accreditation program and has twice received level 1 certification. This means YEG has mapped and studied its carbon emissions to help determine future priorities for action.
• We are the world’s first airport to join IATA’s Environmental Assessment Program. Through the program, IATA will partner with YEG to determine sustainability standards for airports, guidance material, as well as work toward our goal of being net-zero by 2050 and become an even more sustainable organization in everything that we do.
• We are one of the first airport’s to join the TIACA BlueSky program. It is a tool the entire air cargo industry can use to track their sustainability progress, benchmark against peers and accelerate the industry’s transformation. The program assesses the progress of YEG against a number of critical sustainability criteria including: decarbonization, waste elimination, biodiversity protection, supporting the economy and community, society improvement, digitization and more.