We’ll begin with Air India who, in honour of World Environment Day, have set their staff with a number of environmental challenges for the year. These include a ‘No cars day’, where employees are asked to leave their cars at home and take public transport to work. Air India staff will also observe a ‘No plastics day’, where they will refrain from using those environmentally harmful plastic bags. Of course, Air India will also be observing Earth Hour this year and turning off all non-essential lights.
Sri Lankan Airlines have celebrated by officially launching their carbon offsetting programme, which is, of course, a longer term initiative that is sure to produce significant CO2 savings. Sri Lankan estimate that the scheme, which is run in partnership with IATA, will result in an emissions reduction of about 49,796 tonnes a year. Not only that, but the offsetting programme will also generate short-term and long-term employment for local communities.
Also going with the theme of offsetting today is Qantas, who will be offsetting the carbon emissions of all their domestic flights. Qantas will be reinvigorating its Fly Carbon Neutral program, which gives customers the option of paying a small amount to offset the emissions associated with their flight – with all proceeds going to community projects in Australia or overseas which generate carbon credits. They will also be replacing all lighting in operational areas with energy-efficient LED lights, revamping their domestic onboard recycling programme to reduce waste to landfill, and introducing new, lightweight freight containers that will cut fuel consumption. So, a lot going on at Qantas today!
On the other side of the globe, UK ANSP, NATS, has published its environmental performance in its Corporate Responsibility report for 2014-2015. They have announced that during that period they have enabled a reduction of more than 600,000 tonnes of CO2 through more efficient air traffic control procedures. NATS were able to achieve these impressive savings by using near real time airspace efficiency monitoring, which was made possible by their new tool, the Flight Optimisation System.
Finally, German airports giving themselves a collective pat on the back on World Environment Day and have launched a brochure celebrating the fact that German airports are the top performers in European when it comes to climate action. Working under the slogan, “Zusammen ist es Klimaschutz" or “Together, we’re protecting the environment”. Their brochure outlines the wide range of climate initiatives taking place in airports throughout the country and shows real commitment to the cause.
All this and much more is going on to mark World Environment Day and we wish all those doing their part the best of luck!