OVERVIEW

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Schiphol) is a prominent international airport and popular hub for passengers, airlines and logistics service providers in Europe. In 2018, Schiphol had the third-highest number of passengers, 71 million; the thirdhighest volume of cargo, some 1.75 million metric tons; and the highest number of air transport movements, more than 496,000 – in all of Europe. A customer since 2011, Kinect Energy Group meets with the Schiphol team on a monthly basis, discussing how to maintain and improve their energy and sustainability initiatives.

CHALLENGE

Schiphol sought assistance in becoming carbon neutral in order to achieve Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Level 3+ accreditation, a valuable public recognition of carbon reduction achievements. We partnered with Schiphol to deliver an energy management program that prioritized sustainability and carbon reduction and our services helped ensure their top rating.

SOLUTION

After understanding the objective, we provided detailed project analyses for a range of carbon offset programs, all focusing on environmental integrity and co-benefits. All were Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, certified as Gold Standard, and fulfilled the criteria of ACA level 3+ accreditation. The innovative projects included technologies like efficient lighting, biogas, methane from landfills, small solar (off-grid), small hydro (run-ofriver), geothermal, biomass and cook stove options. After reviewing our recommendations and considering various cost and operational factors, Schiphol purchased carbon offsets from a Gold Standard solar project in India. We provided the monitoring report, the project design document, the host country approval letter, the Gold Standard Certificate, and the Carbon Neutrality certificate to Schiphol.