German leisure travel giant TUI Group says it wants to focus on actually reducing CO2 emissions, rather than just offsetting them. Its future chief executive said he is confident that sustainable transformation will benefit both the environment and business, and the group is now submitting its environmental targets for scientific validation by SBTi. .

trying to set the standard

The SBTi (Science-Based Target) initiative is a collaboration of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It tells companies how much and how quickly they need to reduce their emissions to comply with the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 2°C.

More than 20 other airlines have also submitted environmental plans to SBTi, and American Airlines received approval in April of this year for its interim 2035 greenhouse gas reduction plan. TUI will be certified for its own 2030 reduction target by the end of the year.

Sebastian Ebel, future TUI Group CEO, commented:

“We want to set the standard for sustainability in the market and live up to our promise as a market leader. Our focus on emissions is clear. Committed to avoiding and reducing.Our airline is already one of the most carbon-intensive airlines in the world.- efficient in the world.We continuously invest in new aircraft. and today we fly very modern, carbon-efficient aircraft to German, European and international standards.”

TUI operates in several European countries.Photo: TUI Group

The TUI Group includes Corsairs (9 aircraft), TUI Airlines Belgium (31 aircraft), TUI Airlines Netherlands (12 aircraft), British TUI Airlines (70 aircraft), Germany’s TUI Fly (22 aircraft), TUI Fly Nordic. It consists of several different airlines. (4 aircraft). Across the group, the average aircraft age is just over 9 years. It currently operates 35 Boeing 737 MAX jets, with a total of 60 on order.

Eber continues,

offset and reduction

Most airlines currently rely on some form of carbon offset to reach their ambitious net-zero goals by 2050, but their efficiency is debated. The science is still inconclusive about how much benefit or harm they actually do, but it’s clear that major operators are trying to avoid offsets and instead focus entirely on directly reducing emissions. It’s encouraging to see (which is clearly beneficial).

With “travel disruptions” at several UK and other European airports this summer, some reactions to the “plight” of leisure travelers have been very harsh, with a writer for The Independent reporting that leisure flights called for a ban on and labeled vacationers as “carbon illiterate.” “Will TUI’s upcoming initiatives such as his SBTi validation help shake some of the strongest resistance to air travel from an environmental perspective?

Source: Independent