Cochin International Airport makes India proud! India’s airports have been bagging awards internationally, and the latest to join the list is Kerala’s Cochin International Airport. It’s a proud moment for the country as the International Airport of Cochin has been awarded for Entrepreneurial Vision, for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy by the UN. Cochin international airport is the world’s first fully solar-powered airport. According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Cochin International Airport is showing rest of the world that the ever-expanding network of global movement does not have to harm the environment. UNEP further stated that the first fully solar-powered airport of the world is proof positive that green business is good business.
According to a TOI report, earlier this year, UN environment Executive Director Erik Solheim along with his team had visited the international airport and seen the solar power plant and called it a leading example among global airports. Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) MD VJ Kurian was quoted in the report saying that by September 2018, CIAL will upgrade its solar capacity to 40MW, with a power potential of 60 million units per annum, which would save an amount of Rs 40 crores a year. Moreover, this move would also avoid 9 lakh metric tonnes of CO2 over the next 25 years, which is equivalent to planting 90 lakh trees, he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded with the United Nations’s highest environmental honour, bestowed upon five other individuals as well as organizations, for his leadership of the International Solar Alliance and pledge to eliminate single-use plastic in India by the year 2022.
The Champions of the Earth award is the highest environmental recognition of United Nations, celebrating exceptional figures from the public sectors as well as private sectors and also from civil society, whose actions have had a positive impact on the environment.