The solution: Tell the story and don’t mark your own homework

Many airline executives have looked at what happened to KLM, Austrian Airlines and have been frightened off.

For example, SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam has spoken to one airline boss who says that he’s not minded to publicise what the airline is doing as a result of the KLM example.

Environmental consultancy SouthPole has even come up with a name for it - “Green Hushing.”

SouthPole surveyed 1200 companies and found that a quarter that had set Science Based Targets don’t plan to publicise them.

We think that’s a mistake for a number of reasons:

1 - It surrenders the public arena. It means some of the very worthwhile sustainability initiatives are never talked about. Instead, all we hear about is how corporates (in this case airlines) are not serious about sustainability

2 - If we’re waiting for climate change groups to stop so we can tell our story, we’ll be waiting for a very long time. In any case, it’s their right in a democratic society to present their case.

3 - Good sustainability initiatives set an example and encourage others to come forward.

As Renée Morin, Chief Sustainability Officer at eBay says in the SouthPole press release , “Corporate climate action is a necessary and welcome ingredient to slowing the climate crisis. If more businesses lead from the front by speaking openly about their goals, this will spur the many others out there who are yet to set company targets – ideally ones that are aligned with science.”

So how can airlines and airports credibly talk about sustainability initiatives?

We’d put forward two general principles:

1 - Tell the story: Rather than release campaigns with general phrases like ‘climate neutral flying’, tell the story of how you are pursuing sustainability. And not only that, make the passenger part of the story.

2 - Don’t mark your own homework: Have a credible third party organisation backup and ideally audit any claims you do make.

To take each of these in turn: