The EU ETS Verification process – who can do it?
Posted by JLow on Sep 14, 2010
This post is referenced to this article from The GreenAirOnline.com website.
The notable / relevant-to-us points (quotes from) this article are:
- Before the annual emissions and tonne-kilometre data reports can be submitted they must first be audited by an independent and approved verification body.
- However, the process and regulation of appointing verifiers specifically for the Aviation EU ETS is far from uniform across Europe and has the potential to lead to a situation of too few approved verifiers handling the audits of too many of the 4,000-odd operators in a short space of time.
- The verifiers themselves must first be accredited by the relevant accreditation body in the EU state they are seeking to operate before they can be approved by the respective Competent Authority (CA).
By the way, Malaysia Airline reports to the UK state.
- .. Although there are lists of verifiers released by each body, they may only be accredited to perform fixed installation EU ETS audits and not Aviation EU ETS audits.
And most relevant / impacting to our operations is this point:
Malaysia Airlines will be starting its own request for quotations too, this month, for this verification process. While we may be “working in the dark” in that there is still no list of definite approved verifiers, we will have to carefully look into the profiles of the potential verifiers we are considering.
Group IT’s BSG’s progress
Posted by JLow on Sep 8, 2010
Just a quick update on further activities and momentum of our MH Green Office initiative.
Group IT’s Business Solution Group (BSG) has shared their progress with us, complete with photos to show for!
They now have their own-volunteered bins for their waste collection.
Thanks guys for joining in with your efforts. Looking good!
The BSG team
Showing off their efforts
In action spring cleaning
A stock exchange’s guidelines for sustainability
Posted by JLow on Sep 7, 2010
There is no mandate, and the government says it’s simply making suggestions to companies listed on the SGX. So how can Singapore convince companies to adopt sustainability reporting? The answer appears to be public pressure.
This excerpt, taken from the Fast Company’s website, titled “Singapore Stock Exchange Uses Peer Pressure to Encourage Sustainability Reporting“
Two things worth noting: That the Singaporean authority has taken the stance towards adopting sustainability, and that through the stock exchange, that they have also set out guidelines for awareness and adoption, and that it is also available for the public’s comments.
An interesting extract from the policy is the statement below:
The Exchange adopts a progressive approach towards the policy on sustainability reporting, which balances global and local developments. The policy statement sets the baseline for holistic reporting going beyond corporate governance to social and environmental aspects. We expect, with our statement, to generate awareness among listed companies, leading to acceptance and commitment to sustainability as an operating principle as well as to be reported on. As the pace of sustainability reporting gains momentum amongst issuers, the Exchange will review our policy on sustainability reporting to keep pace with global developments and will consider formulating formal rules to regulate disclosure if necessary.
While we are aware that there are already financial institutions with local presence looking into “alternative” investments such as in this space, it will be interesting to see how well this takes off regionally.
Also, as with all things “voluntary”, it will also be interesting to see how much of this is voluntarily taken up by the reporting companies, before the SGX considers “formulating formal rules to regulate disclosure if necessary.”
Maybe mandating something is the way to get adoption (of any and all initiatives) going? 
IATA’s Fuel Efficiency workshop
Posted by JLow on Sep 6, 2010
We attended the IATA’s Fuel Efficiency workshop last week. This is part of IATA’s Green Team initiatives, where they look into ways of reducing the use of fuel in airline operations and practises.
Some of the measures and practises that lay people may find interesting to learn include:
- As a safety precaution, understandably pilots carry some extra fuel as buffer against unexpected weather, etc, that may require more than usual fuel for a flight;
- Some pilots prefer to “top up” the amount of fuel as a further safety buffer, even though calculations already made prior on the ground indicates the plane really only need less than that;
- Some regional airlines publish anonymously the amount of fuel each pilots use over a month, not to encourage competition (of who is most efficient) but to at least know where you rank among your fellow pilots (they can log in to find out their position among other pilots still anonymously);
- It is never a good idea to use pilot fuel efficiency as a Key Performance Indicator, for salary or performance bonuses. This is simply because it will start compromising safety standards;
- Airplanes are equipped with an Auxiliary Power Unit usually located in the tail of the plane, which acts as a power generator for the plane’s air conditioning, lighting, etc. One of the discussions revolved around whether the plane’s main engines (on the wings) ought to be cut off after landing and while taxiing to the airport, relying solely on the APU’s power;
- Other discussions also revolved around whether the APU should be used as a generator when the plane is parked at the airport gate, or should it rely on ground vehicles’ power generator;
- Finally, when the air conditioner should be justifiably switched on, ie 30 minutes before passengers board for their comfort, on hot days on the tarmac.
These are but some of the few things, among hundreds, that airlines and industry bodies such as IATA look into to save fuel use, which ultimately save costs and burn less fossil fuel over time, across an airline’s (whole) fleet.
