Hawke’s Bay Airport is flying high after receiving the Airport of the Year award at the recent 2022 NZ Airport Awards, in the medium-sized airport category.

It also took two other awards in the same category for its sustainability and community initiatives, focused on decarbonising airport operations and promoting native biodiversity.

Hawke’s Bay Airport chief executive Rob Stratford said he was thrilled. 

“To come away with three awards was an incredible honour. It shows that we’re at the leading edge of our industry and it’s a real reflection of the expertise and the genuine passion our people bring to their work.” 

The award for the sustainability initiative was given because of the airport’s sustainability-linked loan with ASB. Hawke’s Bay Airport became the first airport in the country to secure such a loan, which requires a commitment to social and governance targets.

The airport’s sustainability manager Michelle Duncan said it became the first airport in the country to secure a sustainability linked loan. Such loans are part of the financial sector’s partnership approach to growing a greener economy and combatting climate change, she said.

ASB approached Hawke’s Bay Airport about the loan after it had committed to the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme – considered the international gold standard for airport carbon management and which employs a six-step programme to carbon neutrality – in 2020, she said.

It was the first company in the country to take up the new loan, but Christchurch International Airport has since done the same. Duncan said the airport had already achieved mapping and reduction targets set out in the accreditation plan before taking up the loan. 

“This involved a mapping of existing emissions, setting science-based emissions reduction targets, developing a decarbonisation plan, and making changes and investments that reduced emissions.”

The $23 million loan is for general business activities and is not tied to funding specific green projects. Instead it’s aligned with the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, with loan conditions set for meeting steps three and four, optimisation and neutrality. Step three must be met by June 2023, Duncan said.

KPMG reviewed the targets to ensure they were fit for purpose and independently verified.

“Achieving a Level 3 accreditation will require the airport to demonstrate a year-on-year reduction in carbon emissions, as well as looking beyond our own emissions and working with tenants, partners and stakeholders to collect emissions data including electricity usage, waste to landfill and use of fossil fuels.”

Achieving Level 4 will require working with partners on significant emissions reductions and offsetting, as well as and staff business travel.

The loan terms mean that the airport will be either rewarded or penalised with lower or higher borrowing costs, depending on whether it hits its targets.

“Every year, we are independently assessed on how we’re tracking toward those targets. Further targets will be set if/when the loan is renewed,” Duncan said.

The New Zealand Airports Association, which judges the awards, said: “Early leadership and a deep commitment to sustainability were demonstrated in this Hawke’s Bay Airport initiative … The breadth and depth of the airport’s decarbonisation and sustainability plans is applauded, and the initiative is considered an exemplar for the sector.” 

Duncan said the airport would continue to work with a wide range of partners on reducing emissions and other environmental impacts over the coming year, including a solar farm.

“Subject to viability, we’ll be starting the resource consent process, which means undertaking environmental assessments, consulting our community, and going through the application process,” she said.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.