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Accept cookies and close this message.Protecting our natural environment
At British Airways, we care about the impact of every flight. That’s why we’re driving urgent action towards net zero emissions. We have a long history of managing and reducing our carbon emissions and a clear roadmap to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with ambitious short, medium and long-term initiatives to achieve our goals.
As an industry leader, we’re proud to be part of the first airline group in the world (IAG) to commit to becoming carbon net zero by 2050. We’ve invested in new, modern aircraft that are up to 40% more efficient than the aircraft they replace and made changes to the way we fly to further reduce our emissions. We’ve also formed partnerships to support the development of sustainable aviation fuel, zero emissions hydrogen-powered aircraft and carbon capture technology.
Learn more about how we’ll achieve our commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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Discover how our first passenger flight directly powered by sustainable aviation fuel came to life – and the impact this will have on decarbonising the industry.
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Domestic flights: Since January 2020 we’ve been offsetting carbon emissions on all our flights within the UK.
International flights: Using our CO2llaborate platform, you can calculate and act on your carbon emissions if travelling outside of the UK. You can choose from a range of carbon products, including carbon offsets, carbon removals and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). You can also do this directly from your seat on board.
Act on your carbon emissionsProgressing the development and commercial deployment of SAF is crucial to decarbonising the aviation industry and a key part of our plans to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. We’re the first airline in the world to use SAF produced on a commercial scale in the UK after signing a multi-year agreement with Phillips 66.
Our partnership with Velocys to build a plant in Humberside will convert household and commercial waste into SAF. Our partnership with LanzaJet will provide us with SAF from a plant in the USA, which is expected to be available to power a number of our flights by the end of 2022.
Over the next 20 years, our parent company IAG will invest $400 million in the development of sustainable aviation fuel and in April 2021, became the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 per cent of all flights with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.
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We support the development of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source because we believe it has the potential to enable us to reach true zero emissions on short-haul routes by 2050. That’s why we’ve invested in ZeroAvia – a leading innovator in decarbonising commercial aviation. It is aiming to accelerate the development of 50+ seater aircraft capable of running on zero emissions hydrogen-electric power. In September 2020, ZeroAvia completed the world’s first hydrogen-electric fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft.
We’re committed to protecting the environment, eliminating single-use plastic where sustainable alternatives exist and reducing food waste. Working towards implementing a circular economy, we aim to keep our resources in use for as long as possible through innovative product design, re-use and recycling and through partnerships with our suppliers.
We’re committed to reducing single-use plastic and work closely with our suppliers to identify sustainable alternatives, like bamboo and paper. Even small changes, such as swapping plastic stirrers with bamboo alternatives, have saved 45 tonnes of plastic a year. Removing all plastic bags from flights and introducing amenity kits and duvets made from recycled plastic, we’re dedicated to finding innovative solutions that are better for the environment.
Reducing food waste means less pressure on natural resources, water supplies and land where food is grown, as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions from production, transportation and disposal. Behind the scenes, we’re working to influence UK Government policy and regulation to allow more sustainable ways to divert food waste from landfill and incineration.
As part of the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce, we support the fight against the illegal wildlife trade. We’re committed to developing a secure system to share information and credible intelligence with customs and law enforcement agencies about high-risk routes and methods of transportation. This also allows us to reserve the right to refuse cargo suspected of containing illegal wildlife or products.
Together with global animal welfare and conservation charity Born Free Foundation, we’re helping our customers make more informed choices about ethical hotels and tourist attractions. We never promote events or tours that feature animal performances, animal rides or wild animals kept in captivity. As a reflection of our values, we’ll continue to only offer tours that allow you to responsibly observe wildlife safely in their natural habitat.
