dnata will save at least 650 metric tonnes of carbon and 1.5 million kilowatt hours (kwH) of electricity per year following the installation of new, innovative technology at its Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) facilities.
In the announcement, it said that the introduction of Cooling as a Service (CaaS) provides chilled water and air conditioning through a reliable, efficient and sustainable solution.
Supplied by provider Kaer, CaaS was implemented at dnata Singapore in January 2022 to provide cool water and air to its cargo, catering and support facilities.
dnata said under the CaaS model, Kaer retrofitted the cooling systems serving the two facilities with high efficiency, low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) technology and deployed their suite of data mining, machine learning and carbon monitoring software.
This has resulted in a 54% reduction in energy consumption at dnata's cargo base and a 35% reduction at its catering and support offices.
The technology also allows for real-time monitoring and reporting of service levels, as well as energy use and carbon emissions for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reporting.
"The carbon saving of 650 metric tonnes each year is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 530 petrol-powered cars for one year, or over six million miles (9.65 million kilometres) driven by an average petrol-powered car," dnata said.
It added that this is also equivalent to the Carbon Dioxide emissions from 464 average homes' electricity use for one year.
dnata's Singapore facilities were already benefitting from sustainable technology through the use of a rooftop power plant which comprises 6,500 individual solar panels, generating over 4,300 megawatt hours of green power each year.
This enabled dnata to reduce its electricity-related carbon emissions by 20%. The energy savings achieved by the new cooling systems is the equivalent to installing an additional 2,400 rooftop solar panels.
"We are proud to be an early pioneer in low-GWP refrigerant and making our Singapore operations even more efficient and sustainable. We have plans to expand our CaaS initiatives to additional areas of our operations and look forward to working with our partners to further reduce our environmental footprint," said Charles Galloway, dnata’s Regional CEO, Airport Operations – Asia Pacific.
Justin Taylor, chief executive officer, Kaer, added that the ongoing partnership with dnata allows Kaer to scale up its investments in low carbon technology in the coming years and showcase how the implementation of CaaS, alongside the use of solar panels, can deliver clean and sustainable cooling.
dnata recently announced that it was on track to reduce its carbon footprint and waste to landfill by 50% by 2030 as part of its eight-year green operations strategy.
Previously, the company committed US$100 million to implement green technology and initiatives across its businesses globally to achieve its strategic objectives.
The company's recent key initiatives include continued significant investment in infrastructure, green ground support solutions and process improvement.
dnata currently serves more than 50 airlines at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) with a team of 1,500 aviation professionals, who handle over 15,000 flights, and move over 250,000 tonnes of cargo annually.
