{"id":30083,"date":"2024-03-05T11:15:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T01:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infrastructuremagazine.com.au\/?p=51481"},"modified":"2024-03-05T11:15:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T01:15:45","slug":"north-queensland-airports-to-be-powered-by-100-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=30083","title":{"rendered":"North Queensland airports to be powered by 100% renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Queensland Government has announced that, in an agreement between CleanCo and the Northern Queensland Airport Group, Cairns and Mackay Airports will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State Government said that this partnership marks a significant leap forward in sustainable tourism, with the airports to be powered by renewable energy generated at the local Kaban Wind Farm near Ravenshoe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a significant employer in the region, with more than 130 people working across the Cairns and Mackay Airports as part of the North Queensland Airport Group, this agreement supports local tourism jobs and economic growth in the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, it supports ongoing jobs at the Kaban Wind Farm, which employed 350 workers during peak construction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Queensland Minister for Energy and Clean Economy Jobs, Mick de Brenni, said that tourists come from around the world to visit the pristine sites of the Far North, and with the tourism industry the biggest employer in the region, initiatives that take action on climate are critical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe transition to a low emissions economy is well underway, and this commitment to power Cairns and Mackay Airports with renewable energy is another step forward towards our goal of 75 per cent emissions reduction by 2035,\u201d Mr de Brenni said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Queensland Government is working hard to protect the wildlife and world-renowned ecosystems of the Far North \u2013 and the one in seven locals whose jobs rely on them, and today\u2019s announcement shows our commitment to supporting local jobs and safeguarding our natural assets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Queensland Minister for Tourism, Michael Healy, said that there\u2019s a real global desire for more sustainable, meaningful tourism experiences and that this partnership with CleanCo can help propel Queensland to be a world leader and number one destination in that sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt also aligns with our ambitious ten-year tourism industry strategy to more than double the state\u2019s visitor economy to $44 billion in overnight visitor expenditure by 2032,\u201d Mr Healy said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CleanCo CEO, Tom Metcalfe, said that this collaboration is of great importance to CleanCo and allows Queenslanders to make a direct connection between the renewables the state is investing in, the journeys they travel and the airports they visit in beautiful North Queensland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThank you to North Queensland Airports for trusting CleanCo as a partner in the organisation\u2019s sustainability journey. We are delighted to support Queensland\u2019s valuable tourism industry through the supply of renewable energy generated right here in Queensland,\u201d Mr Metcalfe said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Queensland Airports CEO, Richard Barker, said that he feels a responsibility to actively protect the environment around Cairns and Mackay airports, which are key economic drivers for regional Queensland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are committed to achieving net zero emissions (for scope 1 and 2) by 2025, a significant target which would make us among the first carbon-neutral airports in Australasia,\u201d Mr Barker said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur partnership with CleanCo means 100 per cent of our electricity, and that of tenants, will be powered by renewable energy, placing us on the trajectory to well and truly meet this goal. Investing in good environmental practice is the right thing to do, and vital for long-term business success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Queensland Government has announced that, in an agreement between CleanCo and the Northern Queensland Airport Group, Cairns and Mackay [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1054,8202,8222,471,1291,8208,163,8215,8203,801,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airport","category-company-news","category-facilities-management","category-news","category-projects","category-qld","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-renewables-energy","category-spotlight","category-sustainability","category-transport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37963,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30083\/revisions\/37963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}