april2023 - 31

need to do more. The assessment covers
decarbonization, waste management,
biodiversity protection, local economy
and community support, improvement
of lives and well-being, efficiencies and
profitability, how a company attracts,
retains and develops employees and
how they build and nurture partnerships, "
he says. " The assessment is
based on evidence submitted, provides
a comprehensive analysis, and is confidential
to the participants for them to
use as they identify best. "
How the Need for the
Program Developed
The air cargo sector has historically
been considered less sustainable than
other methods of transportation. Over
the past few years, the sector has been
making great strides in developing more
sustainable solutions and is investing
in fleet modernization, fuel efficiency,
sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
and carbon compensation initiatives,
observes Drew.
" The BlueSky program was develsolutions.
For example, in Frankfurt and
Vienna, the company uses solar power
generated by photovoltaic systems on
the roofs of its new air cargo centers.
Also, in Vienna, an electrically powered
truck has been in use since May 2022,
transporting freight shipments between
the Swissport cargo center in Fischamend
and Vienna airport with zero
emissions, the company affirms.
Program Requirements
The journey to sustainable transformation
is different for every company.
BlueSky is not a pass or fail program,
but rather an assessment program
showing where a company is compared
to industry best practices,
points out Hughes.
" A dashboard will help organizations
understand what they are doing well
and will highlight where they perhaps
oped in response to the need to find a
common platform that our industry can
benchmark against. The platform presented
Etihad Cargo, and fellow peers
in the industry, with a tool to measure
the effectiveness of its initiatives combined
with the environmental impact
of its operations, helping us to identify
areas for improvement, " he says. " All
that was required to get the process
started was ensuring the required data
for input into the tool was available and
that adequate time and resources were
allocated to complete the desktop verification
process. "
TIACA conducts an annual industry
sustainability survey, and it was
increasingly receiving feedback about
the need for an independent program to
help companies start their sustainability
journey and to measure where they
are, affirms Hughes.
" This then gave rise to the development
of the Blue Sky program as a
support tool for the entire industry as
questions are tailored to whichever
sector of the industry the participant
represents, " he says. " We launched in
October 2022 with 10 initial participants
and since the launch several more have
signed up with over 40 others assessing
their participation. "
Sustainability can and will be a
game changer in the air cargo industry,
according to Drew.
" If we look at the figures, it is staggering
that the world's aviation sector is
currently responsible for 2.5 to 3 percent
of all human-induced carbon dioxide
emissions worldwide, and this could
increase to up to 22 percent of global
emissions by 2050, " he says. " As other
sectors decarbonize more quickly, it is
critical for the global air cargo community
to take action now to invest in more
sustainable solutions. "
The impact of initiatives and product
enhancements can be measured and
tracked within the BlueSky program, in
combination with other sustainability
data, Drew points out.
" The program is open to participants
across the entire air cargo sector,
including airlines and carriers, airports,
ground handlers and general sales and
service agents, " he says.
How the Program Works
The BlueSky program has been
launched in phases, and Etihad Cargo's
initial participation involved a self-assessment
using assessment guidelines
provided by TIACA.
" This first tier provided a way to
begin the verification and validation
process through awareness and self-assessment, "
says Drew. " The second tier
of the BlueSky program leads into the
desktop verification, beginning with an
online assessment and verification of
the documents that have been provided.
A performance score will be given
across each area and will be visible
via the company's dashboard. In this
evidence-based desktop verification
process, what is assessed is progress
against eight critical sustainability
criteria. "
Upon completion of the tailored
assessment process, a carrier will
receive a personalized dashboard that
displays the carrier's performance
against the criteria, explains Drew.
April 2023 || AviationPros.com || 31
TIACA
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april2023

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