Blog: Our Net Zero Journey- AeroCloud

As COP26 takes place, the Growth Hub asked three local businesses to share their journeys in becoming net zero and what COP26 means to them.

We spoke to three businesses who have made a commitment through the SME Climate Hub, which provides a one-stop-shop to make a climate commitment and access best-in-class tools and resources.

AeroCloud, who are based in Macclesfield and Wilmslow believes airports deserve better. They make airport operations teams worldwide more successful with a combination of great technology and great service. The AeroCloud platform is 100% cloud-native, meaning it's available anywhere on any device. It includes leading-edge features like AI and machine learning at a price point within reach of airports of all sizes. 

Why is Net Zero important to you? 

Net Zero is important to AeroCloud because we’re a diverse team of people who want to live with our families in a healthy environment. We all want to live more sustainably, and we think new technologies are giving us new ways to achieve that. 

Net Zero is also important to our customers and prospects - airports - because the aviation industry is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The entire industry knows it needs to become more sustainable - and it’s great to see many initiatives appearing to address this.  

Companies are working on a range of developments, from headline-grabbing ideas like electric aircraft to smaller steps forward like sustainable aviation fuels and machine learning-driven apron control to reduce the time aircraft spend on the ground with their engines running. But, of course, everything helps, and we need to keep pushing progress forward. 

At AeroCloud, we’ve been certified as carbon neutral (we’re actually carbon negative - our footprint is so low as a cloud-based business), and we have a range of tools to help airports manage their resources more efficiently. For example, using our machine learning-powered Gate Management, airports can find capacity in their existing gates rather than building new ones, with high environmental costs. 

What benefits do you think it can bring to your business? 

Being an environmentally sustainable business is going to be table stakes in the not too distant future. And rightly so. 

What do you say when customers and prospects ask, “how can you help us achieve our sustainability goals?” We see these kinds of questions appear more and more in pitches, RFPs, and tender documents. So you need to have an answer. 

We’re asking the same questions of our suppliers - e.g., our platform is hosted on AWS, who are aiming to power all their operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. 

What are you hoping that COP26 will bring for businesses? 

From COP 26, it would be great to get more clarity on global targets and how governments will help us achieve them. This will filter down to help airports and the wider aviation industry make clear plans - which we will look to support in any way we can. 

The only way to solve a global problem is by everyone working together and using whatever tools and technologies are at our disposal. 

Find out more about AeroCloud here

Find out more about the SME Climate Hub here