ABOUT
SAGA
The Sustainable Aviation Guidance Alliance (SAGA) was a broad volunteer coalition of aviation interests that formed in 2008 to assist airport operators of all sizes in planning, implementing, and maintaining a sustainability program. At that time, individual airports had begun developing or improving sustainability plans and/or sustainable design and construction guidelines to meet their sustainability commitments. Recognizing the duplication in many of these efforts and the fact that many airports lacked the resources to develop sustainability guidance documents of their own, the stakeholder group officially founded SAGA to pool resources and create consistent, comprehensive, and consensus-based sustainability resources that would be available to all airports.
SAGA’s goal was to consolidate existing information about sustainability, including introductory material on what sustainability is and how it is applied at airports, processes for planning and maintaining sustainability programs, and sustainable design and construction practices. Participants in SAGA included members from AAAE, ACI-NA, ACC, FAA, A4A, and various airports and consultants. Approximately 100 people participated in SAGA to varying degrees. The SAGA planning group consisted of 20 volunteers from a diverse set of employers, 10 volunteers executed the work, and approximately 80 volunteers served as reviewers of the final products, which included a website, a handbook and a database of practices.
Over the course of one year, SAGA identified sustainability initiatives and developed a process for starting, maintaining, and enhancing a sustainability program at an airport. The final products of the effort included a searchable online database of over 900 sustainability practices and a handbook for airport sustainability called the “Sustainable Aviation Resource Guide ”. SAGA’s resources were introduced to the industry in 2009 through a series of conference presentations and announcements to association committees. SAGA’s resources were enthusiastically received by the airport industry and went on to become a critical resource for the FAA’s Sustainable Master Plan Pilot Program and to win the prestigious 2011 Jay Hollingsworth Speas Award.
Although SAGA produced valuable resources for the industry, the content of the SAGA handbook and searchable database were static and quickly became outdated. In addition, because the searchable database was developed through a volunteer effort over a short time period, there were many features that could not be included that would have enhanced its usability. Recognizing that the SAGA resources required additional work, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) funded a project through their Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) to enhance the SAGA website and improve the resources available to the industry on airport sustainability. The title of the project was “ACRP 02-30: Enhancing the Airport-Industry SAGA Website ”. This website is product of SAGA’s original effort and the TRB project.
SAGA’s goal was to consolidate existing information about sustainability, including introductory material on what sustainability is and how it is applied at airports, processes for planning and maintaining sustainability programs, and sustainable design and construction practices. Participants in SAGA included members from AAAE, ACI-NA, ACC, FAA, A4A, and various airports and consultants. Approximately 100 people participated in SAGA to varying degrees. The SAGA planning group consisted of 20 volunteers from a diverse set of employers, 10 volunteers executed the work, and approximately 80 volunteers served as reviewers of the final products, which included a website, a handbook and a database of practices.
Over the course of one year, SAGA identified sustainability initiatives and developed a process for starting, maintaining, and enhancing a sustainability program at an airport. The final products of the effort included a searchable online database of over 900 sustainability practices and a handbook for airport sustainability called the “Sustainable Aviation Resource Guide ”. SAGA’s resources were introduced to the industry in 2009 through a series of conference presentations and announcements to association committees. SAGA’s resources were enthusiastically received by the airport industry and went on to become a critical resource for the FAA’s Sustainable Master Plan Pilot Program and to win the prestigious 2011 Jay Hollingsworth Speas Award.
Although SAGA produced valuable resources for the industry, the content of the SAGA handbook and searchable database were static and quickly became outdated. In addition, because the searchable database was developed through a volunteer effort over a short time period, there were many features that could not be included that would have enhanced its usability. Recognizing that the SAGA resources required additional work, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) funded a project through their Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) to enhance the SAGA website and improve the resources available to the industry on airport sustainability. The title of the project was “ACRP 02-30: Enhancing the Airport-Industry SAGA Website ”. This website is product of SAGA’s original effort and the TRB project.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is intended as a comprehensive resource of options to use in evaluating and selecting the SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES that may be applicable within the unique circumstances of an organization. The appropriateness of any individual practice or set of practices at any individual location should be determined by the user. Also, this information is intended to supplement, not replace, existing guidance. For further clarification on the successful implementation of the measures captured within this website, it is suggested that users contact those individuals that are referenced as having implemented that measure.
This Site
This interactive site allows you to explore and share sustainability information. While geared toward airports, this site is useful for all sectors and markets to learn about sustainability, share ideas and experiences, search for SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES based on custom information, and efficiently plan, implement and monitor sustainability activities. Using your characteristics and preferences, you can find SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES that are meaningful and useful to your particular organization, and group practices together in reports that can help with decision-making activities. In addition, you can add SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES to the list that others will find useful.On this site you can SHARE, LEARN, SEARCH, PLAN, and MEASURE:
SHARE
There are several opportunities to share information on this website. You can add SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES to the list or edit data for the existing practices. You can also share case studies, documents, links and comments for the individual practices. On the LEARN page, you can share what sustainability means to you. In the broader context of sharing, you can read about potential stakeholder engagement models and explore a list of potential stakeholders to be involved in your sustainability efforts.
LEARN
Learn about the definition of sustainability, practical applications of sustainability principles at airports, and methods for integrating sustainability into existing business processes and an organization’s culture. In addition, you can share what sustainability means to you for others to see.
SEARCH
Searching for SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES that are meaningful to your organization is the heart of this website. You can use this website to identify, evaluate, prioritize and select sustainability practices. You can find and manage information about SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES in eight ways:
PLAN
This website provides a framework to assist users in starting, implementing, improving and maintaining sustainability practices. The framework is designed to you integrate sustainability in your organization’s culture and business practices. The framework is a systematic approach to set goals, prioritize actions and monitor progress. The approach is scalable and flexible to varying operating environments and resources and can be modified to meet specific needs and circumstances.
MEASURE
This website presents information and guidance on how to measure progress in sustainability. Steps are outlined to help the users identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and associated metrics for sustainability goals and practices. In addition, a consolidated list commonly used KPIs from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Envision™, ISO 26001, the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Global 100, and ACRP Project 02-28 is available for download.