NATA Sustainability Standard for Aviation Business

The Standard aims to provide organizations with flexible, cost-effective options to pursue practices in their operations that are sustainable and can serve as a foundation for future enhancements. The FAA defines1 airport sustainable actions as those that achieve these three goals:

1) Reduce environmental impacts
2) Help maintain high, stable levels of economic growth
3) Help achieve “social progress,” a broad set of actions that ensure organizational goals are achieved in a way that’s consistent with the needs and values of the local community

The Standard provides a targeted list of actions that aviation businesses can make *today* to reduce their carbon footprint and support overall sustainability in their operations and community, while also providing options for future enhancements and/or adoption of other third-party certifications, if desired. Appendix C of this document provides links to some examples of these options for those organizations interested in pursuing them.

Organizations interested in participating in this program can achieve certification through these steps:

1. Complete either the self-certification checklist found in Appendix A (for individual locations) or Appendix B (for network organizations).
   1. Mandatory requirements must be met to achieve self-certification.
   2. Optional actions are voluntary but implementing them will result in being identified as reaching higher-tier status. All applicable items in a Tier level must be completed to achieve self-certification of that level.
2. Submit the completed and signed checklist to sustainability@nata.aero.
3. Renew annually to maintain self-certification.
   1. Self-certifications expire at the end of each calendar year.
      1. New checklists will be released each year in the fourth quarter for each subsequent calendar year.

If the Network Checklist is used, the level achieved will apply to all individual locations within that network. It does not preclude any individual locations within that network from using Appendix A to achieve a higher tier, and if done, it will apply to that location only.

1. www.faa.gov/airports/environmental/sustainability

    

Aviation Businesses that return Appendix A will achieve the following levels by completing:

• The basic hierarchy of sustainability is to measure one’s carbon foot print, then consider ways to:

1. 1. Reduce: Can we be more efficient and use less energy and natural resources?
   2. Replace: Can we replace use of fossil fuels?
   3. Offset: Can offsets be a bridge to carbon neutrality?

• Participation is limited to NATA member organizations only.
• The self-certification checklist must be signed by the Accountable Executive (e.g., owner, general manager, president, or other equivalent title).
• Any previously achieved items in the checklist can be applied toward self-certification. For example, if an aviation business has already replaced some lights with LEDs, that action “counts” for the corresponding requirement.
• The first requirement for self-certification is to calculate a carbon footprint as a baseline for future comparison. Since this baseline is not normalized for operations, facility size, or other measure of business activity, a business has the option of re-calculating its baseline in future years if it encounters significant growth or reduction in operations or facility size. It may be beneficial to consider using the same carbon footprint calculator for the baseline as well for subsequent reporting periods as the carbon footprint scoring methodology can vary. Although the checklist requires that the applicant calculate its carbon footprint, the actual score does not need to be disclosed to NATA for the purposes for obtaining this self-certification.
• Organizations are not required to submit or disclose any confidential materials.
• Upon receipt of the required documents, NATA will evaluate the submission prior to providing confirmation that the organization is permitted to utilize the Standard’s logo.
• NATA reserves the right to request verification of any items and serves as sole adjudicator of completed checklists and applicability to receive the NATA Sustainability Standard for Aviation Businesses certification.

ONLY ORGANIZATIONS THAT COMPLETE ALL COMPONENTS OF THIS OPTIONAL SELF-CERTIFICATION PROCESS AND RECEIVE WRITTEN CONFIRMATION FROM NATA HAVE PERMISSION TO USE AND DISPLAY THE NATA SUSTAINABILITY STANDARD LOGO DURING APPROVED TIMEFRAMES.