Environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibility management
MAp believes that many social, environmental and economic benefits arise from responsible private-sector development and operation of infrastructure. MAp is also aware that with these benefits lies the potential for risks, including ESG risks.
The framework is applied throughout MAp's investment process as follows:
- Asset selection - environmental and social responsibilities are reviewed as part of the acquisition due diligence process
- Ongoing asset management - regular asset board reporting enables compliance with environmental requirements to be monitored and environmental and social responsibility issues to be identified
- Stakeholder reporting - policies, social and environmental initiatives and compliance performance are reported internally and, where appropriate, externally.
In addition to MAp's own processes and policies, many new infrastructure projects undergo extensive social and environmental impact reviews before being given approval to proceed. The process is typically run by governments, which will have balanced the costs and benefits of the project.
Accordingly, a government-run process will usually require new infrastructure to produce more efficient environmental outcomes than existing alternative infrastructure; or, where an investment is made in existing infrastructure, for that investment to produce improved environmental outcomes over those that existed prior to the investment being approved.
ESG-related regulatory requirements
MAp is not aware of any material breaches of relevant ESG-related regulatory standards by its assets during the year ended 31 December 2008.
During 2008 a change in the legislation covering reporting requirements removed MAp's obligation to send hard copies of MAp annual and interim reports to security holders unless specifically requested. A large number of MAp security holders chose to receive electronic copies of these reports and we encourage other MAp investors to provide MAp's registry with their email address in order to do the same.
Environmental and social governance responsibility-related initiatives during 2008
Because of MAp's continuing commitment to high standards of environmental stewardship, we recognise that our businesses will only be able to reach their full potential if we respond to the needs of the community surrounding our airports and beyond.
Examples of notable environmental and social responsibility related initiatives undertaken during the past financial year at MAp's airports include:
Sydney Airport
Water
Construction of a water treatment plant commenced in July 2008. The water treatment plant will treat sewage effluent and the recycled water will be used for toilet flushing, cooling towers, landscaping and essential airport maintenance such as de-rubberisation of the runways. A recycled water pipeline system will transport the recycled water through the terminal and precinct.
The plant will initially save 350 kilolitres per day of potable water, up to a maximum of one megalitre per day over the next 20 years. This represents a saving of approximately 30% of potable water usage in the T1 precinct. The NSW Government is supporting this project and provided Sydney Airport with a A$3m grant for the installation of the recycled water pipeline system.
Carbon emissions
Responding to the challenge of climate change, Sydney Airport joined with 94 other major airports around the world and signed an International Declaration on Climate Change. As part of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, Sydney Airport has also completed a comprehensive carbon emissions inventory for its own business operations. The airport produces almost 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year, with the biggest contributor being the energy used to run the air-conditioning system in the terminals. The airport will submit its initial report to the Greenhouse and Energy data office after 30 June this year.
The next step will be to pursue a range of initiatives to reduce Sydney Airport's direct carbon emissions. Many of the milestones in Sydney Airport's Energy Savings Action Plan have already been achieved and further initiatives to reduce Sydney Airport's carbon emissions are being developed.
Copenhagen Airports
Carbon emissions
CPH's impact on the global climate through CO2 emissions is calculated based on its consumption of power, district heating, natural gas, diesel and petrol. At CPH, power and energy consumption for heating is the greatest source of CO2 emissions. Based on the new sub-policies for climate and energy, CPH began identifying and implementing suitable energy-saving projects in the course of 2008. CO2 emissions alone decreased by 9% over the year, through reductions in both day-to-day operations and the energy-conscious planning of construction projects.
Noise and air pollution
The framework approval covering noise and air pollution from air transport at Copenhagen Airport is currently under revision. The part of the approval dealing with air pollution granted revised approvals in July 2008. Based on this review, CPH established a new system for monitoring air quality in 2008, which was put into operation on 1 January 2009. Monitoring activities are carried out in collaboration with the Danish National Environmental Research Institute and results are directly comparable with the results from the nationwide monitoring programme. The monitoring system measures NOX and particulate matter at two locations at the airport's perimeter fence in order to check air quality against the threshold values for the protection of the general health of the population. The air quality tested so far corresponds to that of a suburb containing a mix of residential areas and light industry.
The work to revise the part of the framework approval which has to do with noise from air traffic is not yet finished, but CPH expects that the final phases will be completed in the course of 2009.
CPH also monitors and checks noise levels to ensure that the airport is in compliance with the environmental approval governing factors such as noise impact, maximum night-time noise and terminal noise.
In 2008, the total noise impact was 145.9 dB calculated using the TDENL method (Total-Day-Evening-Night Level), which reflects the total noise exposure from traffic at the airport. This was significantly below the reference value of 147.4 dB that the airport must comply with under the environmental approval.
Brussels Airport
Noise
Brussels Airport is complying with Belgian Government reform announced in December, which decreased the total number of night flights by one-third, with additional regulations relating to lower noise quota levels per aircraft and aeroplane departures during weekend evenings.
Water and soil
Construction has started on a water treatment plant which will treat all sanitary water within the airport terminal and from aircraft, as well as the de-icing effluent from the aprons.
The soil decontamination project for all the airport premises is also proceeding well. All airport parcels have been investigated and the decontamination works are continuing.
Energy
In 2008, Brussels Airport undertook a global emissions inventory for the airport, serving as the basis for an action plan to reduce airport-related emissions. The year also saw its inaugural participation in the CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme.
The energy efficiency of the heating plants was improved based on the results of an external energy audit and a study undertaken to investigate the use of green or renewable energy sources, including the use of cold/heat storage in the soil for new developments.
Community initiatives
Two Brussels Airport employees organised a flight above Belgium for approximately 100 sick children and their families, with Brussels Airport being one of the sponsors.