Lufthansa targets new aims in environment and climate
Lufthansa spells out ambitious goals in its strategic environmental programme. The Group has specified 15 guidelines to steer its path towards realisation of further decisive progress in environmental efficiency by the year 2020. Lufthansa’s efforts on behalf of environment and climate protection and social responsibility are documented in the Group’s Sustainability Report “Balance”. The 14th issue of the Report is scheduled to be published shortly.
“Lufthansa has in recent years succeeded in decoupling traffic growth from its deleterious impact on the environment. Since 1991, half our traffic growth has been achieved without any increase in CO2 emissions. With the four-pillar strategy agreed with other airlines, we have an effective and comprehensive concept for reducing emissions, whereby standardisation of air traffic control through implementation of a Single European Sky remains Europe’s single biggest environment protection project. Our strategic environmental programme for safeguarding mobility clearly demonstrates that we are firmly intent on doing our share in the future in shouldering our responsibility for environment and climate protection”, said
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
The 15 guidelines ensue from the internationally recognised four-pillar strategy, which spans the entire range of practicable measures for protecting the climate in the operation of air traffic. The principle points of the strategic environmental programme are:
- Lufthansa expressly supports the IATA fuel-efficiency target and intends to reduce its CO2 emissions per flown kilometer by 25 per cent by 2020 against the level in 2006.
- Lufthansa supports the ACARE target of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2020 compared with the level in the year 2000.
- Lufthansa intends to increase the amount of bio-fuel admixed with conventional kerosene up to ten per cent by 2020.
- Lufthansa supports ecologically-oriented incentive systems, which rest on an economic and revenue-neutral basis, e.g. emission-based landing fees, which were introduced earlier this year at Frankfurt and Munich Airports.
- Lufthansa will continue to advocate within international organizations a practicable solution for including air traffic in emissions trading.
- Lufthansa will further pursue diverse noise abatement measures and is cooperating in related research projects designed to achieve the ACARE objective of halving noise emissions by 2020.
Faced with increasing mobility needs, the air traffic industry must respond to forthcoming challenges in environment protection policy. Environmental protection is a tradition at Lufthansa and a prime corporate objective. With its strategic environmental programme, the Group has charted a road map for sustainable growth and profitability in the years to come.
Vicky Karantzavelou
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008