November 17, 2022 | Blog
YEG’s Airport City Sustainability Campus Receives Two International Awards for Greening the Future of Air Cargo
Edmonton International Airport (YEG) is being recognized on the global stage, winning two prestigious awards for our leadership in sustainability. In early November, we received the Corporate Sustainability Award from The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) and the Sustainability Award from Ground Handling International Magazine. Both awards were in recognition of our inspirational leadership in environmental initiatives at YEG’s Airport City Sustainability Campus and our impacts in transforming air cargo and ground handling operations.
“We are thrilled to receive these two highly esteemed awards in recognition of the bold risks we are taking in YEG’s Airport City Sustainability Campus,” said Mammen Tharakan, YEG’s Director of E-Commerce, Cargo & Aviation Real Estate and Air Service & Business Development.
“We are particularly honoured to be recognized for our work by the judging panel of highly respected peers in our industry.”
YEG is Canada’s largest airport by land size, with more than 7,700 acres under our care. We are using our space to create a living lab for accelerating the development, testing, implementation and commercialization of clean technologies.
TIACA’s Corporate Sustainability Award presented to YEG Team at Air Cargo Forum, Miami, November 2022
What is the YEG Airport City Sustainability Campus?
YEG’s Airport City is one of only two aerotropolis of its kind in Canada and is a living lab for accelerating technology development, testing, implementation, and commercialization. It has attracted $1.5 billion in investment over the past nine years and is a destination in and around the airport comprised of businesses in tourism, entertainment, e-commerce, retail, hospitality, cargo/logistics, bio-pharma, light manufacturing and many other industries.
The Campus has proven to be an innovation ecosystem and is contributing to growing cargo responsibly. As the heart of leading and emerging technologies from all sectors, the Campus spearheads a model for decarbonizing transportation and logistics. Over 30 companies are working in an integrated ecosystem focused on innovation in commercializing emerging clean technologies.
Some notable projects on the Campus include:
- becoming Canada’s first airport to begin regularly scheduled drone delivery operations using zero-emission drones to conduct final-mile delivery services
- building a natural cogeneration power plant that provides energy and heat for warehouses, distribution facilities and other logistics businesses on the Campus, reducing C02e by approximately 20 per cent per year
- focusing on the electrification of aviation ground-handling equipment
- exploring the development of sustainable aviation fuels, biofuels and hydrogen
- developing Canada’s first consumer-facing hydrogen hub and signing over 12 agreements with global and local businesses to generate hydrogen demand using our Campus ecosystem
- opening the airport for piloting emerging hydrogen technologies such as hydrogen-powered shuttle busses, industrial-vehicle hydrogen fuel conversions and developing hydrogen infrastructure required for delivering zero-emission flights and decarbonizing ground operations
YEG’s Airport Sustainability Campus is being recognized internationally for dreaming big and taking risks to support innovation for a greener future. Receiving these two distinguished cargo sustainability awards showcases our leadership in creating a pathway for the cargo industry to follow.
“Our Sustainability Campus is truly a leader in transforming the perception of air freight and ground handling operations as we move into the future of reducing our industry’s carbon footprint collaboratively,” said Tharakan.
About TIACA’s Sustainability Awards
The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is the international association representing and uniting all parts of the air cargo industry, including shippers, freight forwarders, ground handlers, airports, airlines, manufacturers, and solution providers. The TIACA Sustainability Awards recognize outstanding businesses and industry initiatives designed to make air cargo more sustainable.
About The Pride of Ground Handling Awards
The Pride of Ground Handling Awards celebrate excellence in ground services across the globe. The Sustainability Award recognizes aviation operators who have taken sustainability from a tick-box activity to a true business principle, changing the misconception of aviation as a great polluter.
Canadian Aviation News 