JAKARTA. The country’s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, has recently pocketed a mapping accreditation in the Airport Carbon Accreditation program run by Airport Council International (ACI), for showing its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.

This also makes it the first and only airport in the nation to have been awarded such certification.

“In the mapping process, we worked together with TUV Rheinland China to map the carbon footprint of Soekarno-Hatta so that we could identify the amount of carbon emissions that we produce from our activities in the airport. This is the first step before moving on to the reduction phase,” state-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) president director Tri S. Sunoko told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Based on the process, the airport was found to be producing 137,145 tons of carbon emissions a year from its consumption of electricity, fuel, gas and many other activities.

“We are aiming to reduce our emissions by 25 percent in the next few years so that we can get the reduction accreditation,” Tri said, adding that the firm was currently formulating a number of programs to reduce the airport’s carbon emissions.

According to ACI data, there are 36 airports across the globe that have been awarded mapping accreditation, including Soekarno-Hatta, which was named the 10th busiest airport in the world by the council in 2013.

Indonesia is home to 233 airports, 26 of which are large airports managed by AP II and state-owned Angkasa Pura I (AP I).

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie