Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has released an annual sustainability report outlining the hub's efforts to become the World's Greenest Airport.

The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) said this marks the 10 years of sustainability reporting for the major gateway, which demonstrates its commitment to building resilience and enhancing the disclosures and transparency of HKIA as an international aviation hub.

"AAHK releases its Sustainability Report 2021/22 outlining the sustainability performance of HKIA in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022 along its roadmap to becoming the World’s Greenest Airport," AAHK said.

The report showed the highlights of HKIA's sustainability efforts for the year which include receiving an inaugural rating of 74 out of 100 for its environmental, social and governance performance from Standard & Poor Global Ratings (S&P), reflecting what S&P describes as AAHK's "good capabilities to address its moderate yet growing environmental and social exposure, and focus on maintaining its capacity to navigate potential disruptions."

HKIA also developed its Decarbonisation Roadmap to 2035 to provide an overarching framework for the combined carbon reduction efforts of AAHK and its business partners to deliver a 55% reduction in absolute emissions across the airport by 2035 against a 2018 baseline, as a midpoint target to achieve Net Zero Carbon in 2050.

"AAHK launched a new Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan while continuing to report on its strategy and efforts for climate change risk mitigation and resilience in its second Task Force on Climate-related Finance Disclosures (TCFD) Statement, with strengthened disclosures on sustainability governance structure," AAHK said.

It added that the Green Airport Design and Construction Strategy offers a consistent approach for embedding green design principles and sustainable construction techniques in projects undertaken by AAHK and its partners.

AAHK further said that Hong Kong International Aviation Academy's new campus also came into service to support the development of the industry.

A Sustainable Finance Transactions Annual Report was also incorporated in the report for the first time, providing details on the use of proceeds as well as the estimated impacts of AAHK's inaugural green bond issued in January 2022.

"The Sustainability Report 2021/22 explicitly aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the first time through a comprehensive mapping exercise," AAHK said.