Climate Project in Laos Makes Copenhagen Airport CO2 Neutral

In early March, CPH launched its new climate strategy. It contains three principal objectives that will guide the airport in a greener and more climate-friendly direction over the coming years. Thursday 11 April, the Airport can proudly present the project ‘Improved Cookstoves in Laos’ in collaboration with the international NGO, Nexus for Development (Nexus). The initiative means that CPH will achieve the first goal in its climate strategy. Already this year, the Airport will be CO₂ neutral.

The Laos project will lead to benefits in terms of climate, health and the local community. The project will ensure local production and distribution of energy-efficient cookers, entailing a reduction in the consumption of wood and, accordingly, the felling of forest areas. The same applies to CO₂ emissions.

In addition to the climate benefits, these efficient cookers will emit fewer of the hazardous particles, to which women in particular are exposed when cooking over open fire with charcoal or wood as fuel.  

The investment also boosts local employment, it being run by local organisations and local retailers selling the cookers. About 90 percent is owned by women, who gain the opportunity to support themselves by owning their own business, thereby achieving personal independence: something which women in Laos cannot take for granted.  The project has already produced and distributed about 270,000 energy-efficient cookers.

Thomas Woldbye, CEO of CPH, is impressed by the results that Nexus can create with this project based on the cooperation that has now been agreed:

“We are delighted to announce our collaboration with Nexus and the investment in the Energy-efficient Cookers project. In early March, we decided to commit to becoming CO₂ neutral this year. Here we are now, one month later, having put down the first important milestone in our new climate strategy,” he says.

The investment in Laos zeroes CPH’s CO₂ account, since the project will lead to a reduction in global CO₂ emissions, which at least corresponds to the amount discharged by the airport.

“We were looking for a partner and a project that meet our demands for quality, credibility, impact on the local environment and lasting climate improvements. After careful guidance and discussion with expert consultants from NIRAS, we chose the project in Laos. We believe that Nexus and the local organisations, ARMI and SNV Laos, live up to our high standards of quality and transparency. We are delighted that the project also facilitates real improvements in the everyday lives of the people of Laos. We are now looking forward to starting the collaboration, but most of all to seeing the development our investment will help create: particularly in the northern districts of Laos, which do not yet have access to the energy-efficient cookers,” says the Airport’s CEO.

The project in Laos cannot be a one-off. Accordingly, the Airport will also continue its targeted efforts to implement measures that reduce CO₂ emissions from the Airport’s buildings, operations, and ground and air traffic. We are focusing particularly on increasing the percentage of renewable energy and on established partnerships, in order that the Airport can expand in an environmentally and climate friendly way. We are also working to come up with new, sustainable fuels and to use both existing and new technologies to help find new ways of limiting emissions. Our ultimate goal is for Airport operations and ground transport to be emissions free by 2030, and for the Airport to be free of all CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Facts

• In April 2019, CPH signs an agreement with the international NGO, Nexus for Development, for the commencement of climate compensation via the ‘Improved Cookstoves’ in Laos.
• The cooperation agreement is the result of an exhaustive tender process, led by experts from NIRAS, one of Scandinavia’s leading consultant engineering companies, who have also seen the project in situ.
• The main criteria for choosing the project include the facts that: it is certified as a Gold Standard project; it is going on in one of the least developed countries in the world; and the type of project (climate-friendly cookers) features on the list of projects we believe to be highly credible (cf. the aviation industry’s global climate certification ACA’s (Airport Carbon Accreditation) guidelines for climate compensation).
• The project is an investment project, in which CPH finances the training and education of local people in the production of climate-friendly cookers, quality control of the production, implementation and follow-up on the project, and promotion through local marketing campaigns.
• Two local partners, ARMI and SNV Laos, will ensure sound implementation of the project.
• Climate compensation will be achieved in the shape of VERs (Verified Emission Reductions) and is Gold Standard certified.
• The project contributes to the following UN global goals:
  
  • 3: Good Health and Well-Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • 7: Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  • 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  • 13: Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  • 15: Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

• In March 2019, CPH launched its climate strategy, which, for one thing, obligates the Airport to become CO₂ neutral by supporting projects both in Denmark and throughout the world that reduce CO₂. The Airport is working determinedly to eliminate CO₂ emissions by 2030, thereby continuously reducing the need for climate compensation.
• Read more about the project and CPH’s climate strategy and initiatives on www.cph.dk/klima
• Read more about Nexus for Development on www.nexusfordevelopment.org