SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT THE HEART OF BRUSSELS SOUTH CHARLEROI AIRPORT’S CONCERNS

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Climate change, global warming, human health, economic growth, the future of businesses and countries around the world are all key issues that must be incorporated into how we manage all of our activities.

The aviation industry is fully aware of its impact on the environment, representing between 2 and 3% of the mass of CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere every year worldwide[1].

BSCA is committed to reducing this impact and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050[2].

The company is “greening” its activities and working to secure a number of certificates, which will lead to concrete actions.

BSCA HAS SIGNED UP TO THE CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME FOR THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) DEFINED AND PROMOTED BY THE UNITED NATIONS.

This commitment makes the airport the first Walloon company to get involved in the scheme.

In addition to “classic” environmental concerns, these 17 goals include human elements such as well-being at work, equality and fighting poverty, as well as social issues such as partnerships, justice and growth.

This certification scheme is being planned and overseen by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry over a period of 3 years, and will ultimately lead to a certificate issued directly by UNITAR, the United Nations training body created in 1963.

All the concrete, measurable actions carried out during 2021 are available for everybody to see in a recently published “Sustainable Development” report.

This report includes the 17 SDGs in three main categories:

1 / Human and social 

1. 1. SDGs 1 & 16 – No poverty, peace, justice and strong institutions
   2. SDG 2 – Zero hunger
   3. SDG 3 – Good health & Well-being 
   4. SDG 4 – Quality education (training)
   5. SDG 5 – Gender equality
   6. SDG 10 – Reduced inequalities

2 / Environment 

1. 7. SDGs 6 & 14 - Clean Water, Sanitation & Life below water
   8. SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy
   1. SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
   10. SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production
   11. SDG 13 – Climate action
   50. SDG 15 – Life on land

3 / Economy

1. 1000. SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth
   14. SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
   15. SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals

Through this report, BSCA demonstrates its concrete commitment to all of the SDGs, including:

• Involvement in initiatives to promote solidarity and combat poverty and hunger 

• Nurturing the well-being of its staff through concrete actions 

• Supporting training and development for its staff 

• Not discriminating on the basis of gender, religion or nationality in its recruitment process 

• Establishing measures to reduce the consumption of energy (electricity, fuel, gas) and drinking water 

• Comprehensive sanitisation of wastewater and industrial water produced by its management processes 

• The development of sustainable solutions in terms of energy production and consumption (photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, cogeneration etc.)

• Taking care to make sure that every aspect of management focuses on obtaining the lowest possible impact on the environment  

• Integrated, collective and rational waste management 

• Establishing measures to reduce our carbon footprint in collaboration with airlines and other key partners

• Setting up think tanks to look at how Sustainable Development can be incorporated within the company

• Including “sustainability” clauses in all of our contracts and specifications 

• Creating private and public partnerships that encourage collaborative, sensible environmental management

All of this information can be found on our website https://www.brussels-charleroi-airport.com/en/developpementdurable