Airports Council International – North America, the foremost advocate for airport operators in North America, has honoured San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with its Environmental Achievement Award for 2024.
In the Mitigation Award Category, SFO was recognized for its “All-Electric Concessions Initiative”, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating natural gas use and providing adequate electrical capacity for concessions to transition to all-electric equipment.
“Throughout our journey to be the world’s most sustainable airport, we’ve shown the transformational role concessions can have,” said Airport Director Ivar C. Satero. “From the elimination of beverages in plastic packaging to compostable food ware, it’s clear how significant this impact can be on our goals for the environment. Our All-Electric Concessions Initiative is once again about creating a pathway for SFO tenants to support our mission to deliver an airport experience where people and our planet come first. My thanks go out to the entire team for this award.”
Under the All-Electric Concessions Initiative, once a concessionaire’s lease expired at SFO, the transition to a new leaseholder triggers the requirement for all-electric equipment. Airport staff work closely with concessionaires to make an all-electric future a reality, as there are 149 concessions, 44 of them using natural gas, with leases spanning a total of 7 to 12 years.
The Initiative is being used to guide buildout of future SFO terminal tenant spaces, match equipment rebates and incentives to electric replacements for existing concessions, and to help define the appropriate level of base building and upstream electrical capacity.