dnata to save 650 tonnes carbon per year in Singapore

dnata will save at least 650 metric tonnes of carbon and 1.5 million kilowatt hours (kwH) of electricity per year following the installation of a new, innovative technology at its Singapore Changi Airport facilities.

The introduction of Cooling as a Service (CaaS) provides chilled water and air conditioning through a reliable, efficient and sustainable solution, says an official release. "Supplied by Kaer, CaaS was implemented at dnata Singapore in January 2022 to provide cool water and air to its cargo, catering and support facilities. Under the CaaS model, Kaer retrofitted the cooling systems serving the two facilities with high efficiency, low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) technology and have deployed their suite of data mining, machine learning and carbon monitoring software."

This has resulted in a 54 percent reduction in energy consumption at dnata’s cargo base, and a 35 percent reduction at its catering and support offices, the release added. The technology also allows for real-time monitoring and reporting of service levels as well as energy use and carbon emissions for environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.

"The carbon saving of 650 metric tonnes each year is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 530 petrol-powered cars for one year or over six million miles (9.65 million kilometres) driven by an average petrol-powered car. It is also equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from 464 average homes’ electricity use for one year."

The energy savings achieved by the new cooling systems is the equivalent to installing an additional 2,400 rooftop solar panels, the release added.

Charles Galloway, Regional CEO, Airport Operations – Asia Pacific, dnata says: "We are proud to be an early pioneer in low-GWP refrigerant, and making our Singapore operations even more efficient and sustainable. We have plans to expand our CaaS initiatives to additional areas of our operations, and look forward to working with our partners to further reduce our environmental footprint."

Justin Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Kaer adds: "We are excited to welcome dnata into the CaaS movement and to be a part of their journey towards carbon neutrality. Our ongoing partnership with dnata allows us to scale up our investments in low carbon technology in the coming years and showcase how the implementation of CaaS, alongside the use of solar panels can deliver clean and sustainable cooling."

dnata has committed $100 million to implement green technology and initiatives across its businesses globally to achieve its strategic objectives, the release added.

In the financial year 2022-23, dnata’s teams handled over 710,000 aircraft turns, moved over 2.7 million tonnes of cargo and recorded a total transaction value of travel services of $1.9 billion.