BRITISH AIRWAYS

Sustainability Overview

In 2021, British Airways (BA) launched a comprehensive sustainability programme called BA Better World. It was developed in recognition of the fact that flying comes at a cost to the environment and that urgent action is required to create a better, more sustainable future. The airline calls it their “most important journey yet”.

The airline has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a clear short-, medium and long-term plan. In the short-term this includes improving operational efficiency, investing in more efficient aircraft, funding carbon offset projects to mitigate emissions on UK domestic flights and progressively introducing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) using waste feedstocks. In the medium to longer-term BA will invest in the development and scale-up of SAF and new technologies, such as zero emissions hydrogen-powered aircraft and carbon capture technology.

Meet The Changemaker

Carrie Harris is Director of Sustainability at British Airways. She brings rich experience in the field having previously served as Group Sustainability Manager at International Airlines Group (IAG), coordinating sustainability strategy across the Group’s airlines Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and LEVEL. In 2019, she helped deliver a world’s first "Flightpath net zero" programme, making IAG the first airline group worldwide to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

For Carrie, aviation sustainability brings together three of her core passions: respect and awe at the natural world and a deep sense of responsibility to protect it; a love of travel and cultural experiences; and a love of technology and innovation.

Speaking of bringing her experience with Flightpath net zero, Carrie says the difference was that they published a quantified pathway on how net zero could be achieved, also a world first. “This was pivotal in driving sector-wide change, first in the UK, then Europe and the USA, then across our alliance partners in Oneworld, and most recently with the global industry body IATA. The momentum and industry support are now there and we’re hopeful ICAO, the UN body for aviation, will also commit to net zero at its Assembly meeting”, she says.

However, the highlight for Carrie has been launching the BA Better World sustainability programme along with a fresh new brand identity and a special livery aircraft in September 2021.

“Positioning sustainability at the heart of British Airways’ corporate strategy to deliver transformational change in the coming decade and beyond is a dream come true”, she emphasises.

Ultimately, Carrie says it was a massive team effort made possible by clear direction and support from the CEO and Chairman Sean Doyle and involved people across the entire organisation.

Source: British Airways

British Airways has teamed up with ZeroAvia, a leading innovator in decarbonizing commercial aviation, in a project to explore how hydrogen-powered aircraft can play a leading role in the future of sustainable flying

Opportunities And Challenges

In April 2021, IAG became the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 percent of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.

“We believe that sustainable aviation fuel can be a real game changer for aviation. We’re investing in first-of-a-kind SAF plants in the UK and US to scale up the availability of this drop-in replacement for fossil fuels”, says Carrie.

“We took delivery of the first direct supplies of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) including enough to power all our flights from London to Scotland for the duration of COP26 and our first transatlantic flight operated on 35% SAF.”

In 2021, BA announced a partnership with Phillips 66, making it the first airline in the world to use SAF produced at commercial scale in the UK. They have also partnered with LanzaJet, which will see the airline invest in LanzaJet’s first commercial scale facility in the USA and acquire cleaner SAF from the plant. In addition, the airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG) has to date committed 865 million dollars in SAF purchasing and investments.

Why Carbon Pricing Could Be A Viable Solution

For Carrie, the single most effective sustainability measure would be global, economywide carbon pricing. “This would mean that all products and services purchased by consumers would have climate externalities internalised”, she explains. Establishing this would make carbon a valued global commodity, freely tradeable across multiple markets, and in turn, this would:

Enable consumers everywhere to make informed choices about the products and services they buy

Create market conditions that accelerate the shift to ‘green’ products, making some other products less desirable due to their impact and carbon cost

Drive investment into the faster scale-up of low carbon solutions including, in the case of aviation, sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen propulsion, and carbon capture and storage solutions

It would also help protect biodiversity and natural ecosystems that offer valuable carbon sink

Looking Ahead

With over 30,000 employees and a global network, British Airways understands that it has a huge opportunity and responsibility to inform and educate people about sustainability and to inspire action. Carrie says that with BA Better World, clear and transparent communication and engagement is at the heart of the airline’s strategy to create a culture of sustainability that's visible and tangible for their customers.

Since launching BA Better World, the airline has created several short films that articulate their action in a clear and engaging way. These include the BA Better World launch film, the Flightpath net zero films, and most recently a short docuseries that kicked off with a fun look at Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), showing how BA’s pioneering supply of SAF is produced in the UK.

The airline has also revamped their website with a dedicated BA Better World section; featured sustainability in BA’s ‘The CheckIn’ podcast; and regularly provides updates on sustainability initiatives on social media, through press releases to media and to employees through internal channels, webinars and events. BA also maintains a sustainability factsheet, available on their media centre for anyone interested in a comprehensive overview of the airline’s actions.

In October 2022, BA announced an upgraded consumer-facing platform for sustainable flying in partnership with CHOOSE. According to reports, the upgraded programme, named Co2llaborate, will allow customers to gauge an accurate reading of their emissions and state the percentage of SAF they would like to purchase versus carbon offsets. The SAF comes from the Phillips 66 plant in the Humberside area, where the feedstock is made from used cooking oil as part of the plant’s sustainable operations.

BA has also invested in ZeroAvia to accelerate the development of 50+ seater aircraft capable of running on zero emissions hydrogen electric power. “British Airways’ early partnership with ZeroAvia, the hydrogen-electric propulsion start-up, in 2020 and our subsequent investment in them in January 2021 was another landmark moment, sending a clear signal of intent to incumbent manufacturers that innovation in clean technology is important to us,” says Carrie. “The momentum and excitement around hydrogen continued to accelerate and in late 2021 Airbus published its programme, bringing forward the projected entry into service by 15 years.”

It is no secret that aviation has a real climate impact – and my fear is that in the long-term, if our industry does not take meaningful steps to decarbonize, our business is at risk. And so is what we offer society: a chance to explore and connect with the world.

Sara Bogdan Director, Head of Sustainability and ESG at JetBlue Airways