British Airways Launches BA Better World Sustainability Programme

British Airways has today launched a new sustainability programme - BA Better World.

As part of the initiative, British Airways is working with bp to source sustainable aviation fuel for all its flights between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh during the UK’s COP26 climate change summit being held in Glasgow, Scotland later this year.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is blended with traditional jet fuel to comply with aviation fuel certification standards. The SAF sourced for the COP26 period provides a lifecycle carbon reduction of up to 80% compared to traditional jet fuel.

The collaboration with bp forms part of British Airways’ long-term commitment to the development and use of sustainable aviation fuel. The airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), is investing $400m over the next 20 years into the development of SAF, with British Airways forming partnerships with a number of technology and fuel companies to develop SAF plants and purchase the fuel, including with Velocys in the UK and LanzaJet in the US. British Airways, as part of an IAG commitment, recently stated it would power 10 per cent of its fuel needs with SAF by 2030.

British Airways CEO and Chairman, Sean Doyle, said, “With BA Better World we’re on our most important journey yet - to a better, more sustainable future and one which will ensure the long-term success of our business. We’re clear that we have a responsibility to reduce our impact on the planet and have a detailed plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, including investing in more fuel-efficient aircraft, improving our operational efficiency and investing in the development of sustainable aviation fuel and zero emissions aircraft.

“It is only through working in partnership with Government and industry that we’ll be able to reach our targets and I’m delighted that, thanks to our new collaboration with bp, we’re able to source enough sustainable aviation fuel with respect to all our flights between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh during COP26, substantially reducing the emissions associated with taking our customers to and from COP26 by up to 80% compared to traditional jet fuel. This commitment for COP26 is in addition to the mandatory carbon trading we already operate in the UK and our own further voluntary carbon offsetting of our UK domestic flights.”

Some of the other initiatives that the airline has introduced to improve sustainability in the air and on the ground, include switching from diesel to renewably powered electric pushback vehicles and removing weight from its aircraft by introducing lighter seats and trollies, inflight magazines and paper flight manuals. It also is working to remove single-use plastic and source more products made from recycled materials, including its First Class duvet and World Traveller Plus amenity kits.

Customers can now purchase sustainable aviation fuel to reduce their carbon footprint via its not-for-profit organisation Pure Leapfrog. This is in addition to the existing option for customers to offset their emissions.

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