Air Canada Working with YEG to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Edmonton International Airport (YEG) and Air Canada have signed an agreement to reduce carbon emissions and advance a green and more sustainable aviation sector.

The YEG-Air Canada Sustainability Partnership aims to reduce the carbon impact of air travel with both organizations working together to test emerging green technologies at YEG's Airport City Sustainability Campus, an ecosystem that YEG created to foster environmental innovation.

The YEG-Air Canada Sustainability Partnership will focus on initiatives that promote a cleaner environment and include the following:

- Electrification of aviation equipment;

- Hydrogen fuel cell technologies;

- Green power generation using Airport City Solar, the world's largest airport-based solar farm;

- Development and usage of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), biofuels and hydrogen;

- Replacement of single-use plastics with plant-fibre materials;

- Drones for e-commerce and cargo delivery; and

- Other initiatives in industries such as agriculture and forestry to offset carbon emissions.

"This partnership with Edmonton International Airport is an important step towards our midterm 2030 objectives that roll up into our overall net zero by 2050 emissions goal," said Samuel Elfassy, Vice President, Safety at Air Canada. "We look forward to working together in developing innovative, long term, sustainable airport and ground operations emission reductions that could potentially be scaled at other airports in Canada and internationally."

YEG and Air Canada partnered in 2018 on an  Edmonton to San Francisco flight that used sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), reducing net emissions from the flight by 20 per cent.

"Finding good partners who share our core values is critical," said Myron Keehn, Vice President, Air Service and Business Development, Edmonton International Airport. "Air Canada is passionate about reducing its environmental impact and our partnership shows how airlines and airports can work together to promote a sustainable future. This is only the beginning as we know that there are tremendous opportunities to lead in both an environmentally and economically sustainable way."

As part of its commitment to net zero emissions from all global operations by 2050, Air Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from flights by 20 per cent by 2030 and from ground operations by 30 per cent compared to a 2019 baseline.

YEG is the first and only airport in the world to sign The Climate Pledge, cofounded by Amazon committing to be carbon neutral by 2040.

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