CHAPTER 5

Implementation Considerations: Stakeholder Coordination and Partnerships

5.1 Introduction

Airports have many key internal and external stakeholders who must be included in decision-making processes when evaluating options for CDR (see Figure 27). Engaging with stakeholders from the earliest stages of planning will result in the most effective climate action and carbon-reduction or removal plans. High levels of engagement will help build initiatives into each stakeholder’s operations, which leads to more successful efforts to remove and reduce carbon.

The approach to stakeholder engagement will vary as airports across the country have different levels of experience with carbon reduction and net-zero carbon planning. Airports also have different levels of staffing and financial resources. Similarly, airports vary in how they engage their stakeholders, what engagement mechanisms are used, and the level of input desired. For example, larger airports often have well-established and resourced stakeholder engagement mechanisms, such as community advisory groups, roundtables, standing tenant meetings, sustainability committees, and dedicated public-outreach staff. These airports can use their existing resources to bring stakeholders into the conversation about net-zero planning and CDR. In other cases, large airports may find conducting stakeholder engagement on new topics, such as CDR, challenging precisely because there are many other planning and engagement activities occurring simultaneously.

Conversely, although smaller airports typically have fewer staff and financial resources, the number of interested and impacted stakeholders may be more manageable and therefore easier to convene. Despite the challenges airports face, it is still critical to coordinate with stakeholders and have honest and transparent conversations about what is possible and practicable for the airport regarding CDR.

Airports do not control all the emissions associated with their site, as many operations are controlled by tenant stakeholders. Typically, Scope 3 GHG emissions (for example from concessionaires, car rental agencies, aircraft operators, ground transportation service providers and customers) account for over 90 percent of an airport’s GHG emissions inventory (NASEM 2011). Therefore, it is critical that airports seeking to develop and implement carbon-reduction and net-zero carbon plans engage with these entities. While the airport does not directly control the operations and emissions of these stakeholders, airports can influence and inform the stakeholders’ decision-making and create partnerships to achieve deeper carbon reductions than the airport could achieve on its own.

CDR integration in net-zero planning is new for most airports, and while some have been tracking CDR practices, education was identified during the industry interviews as one of the most important outcomes of this ACRP project. Airports can convene large groups of stakeholders for educational purposes and collaborative planning to advance the stakeholders’ knowledge of

approach to conducting stakeholder engagement for decarbonization efforts that can be applied for CDR planning efforts as well.

ACRP Research Report 220 recommends creating three stakeholder groups to ensure successful planning and implementation phases of a project: (1) a core decision-making team, (2) an advisory team, and (3) an implementation team. The core decision-making team is a group of internal staff who participate in all phases of project planning. As project planning relates to CDR, the core decision-making team should include employees who are deeply involved in sustainability or net-zero project planning and long-term planning and capital development and financing projects. They should have decision-making authority (these employees are not limited to sustainability and environmental staff). The implementation team should include internal and external stakeholders who will advise on the project’s vision and goals, and once developed will ensure that those goals and vision are implemented. The advisory team should be composed of external stakeholders (e.g., local elected officials or city departments, FAA, community groups) and support the two other groups. These three groups can collaborate throughout the phases of a CDR project, from initial road-mapping to concept development and finally to implementation (see ACRP Research Report 220 for a detailed explanation of the recommended stakeholder engagement approach).

Airports will be able to encourage robust stakeholder engagement by communicating and educating stakeholders on how CDR can contribute toward common goals. One frequent challenge of stakeholder engagement is a lack of incentive to participate. Table 12 explains why each stakeholder group is likely to be interested about CDR.

It is important for the airport to encourage stakeholder participation by providing real opportunity for input and the ability to influence the planning process as each group will have a unique perspective. Many of the stakeholder roles will vary depending on the specific discussions, the planning stage, and types of projects under consideration. As with any planning project, considering a range of viewpoints is instructive and can result in a better outcome. It is important to have skeptics, advocates, and everyone in between evaluate and potentially

Table 12. Potential CDR engagement topics for stakeholder groups.

Table 13. CDR technology resources.