Finnair has said it will reveal its targets and plans for the 2020-2025 strategy period which include sustainability initiatives.
A crucial part of Finnair’s sustainability plan is minimising the emissions of its flight operations by investing in new aircraft that produce less emissions, implementing operative measures that improve fuel-efficiency, investing in the use of biofuels and in the longer term, synthetic fuels.
Finnair will also work in developing electric flying for shorter distances, and the company believes that combining different transportation modes will be another important step towards a carbon-neutral future.
Carbon offsets and emissions trading are important in addressing emissions that cannot be reduced by the abovementioned measures. Aviation is already a part of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and has been the first industry in the world to agree on a global carbon offsetting and reduction scheme (CORSIA), which comes into effect in the beginning of 2021.
“The path towards a long-term target of true net carbon neutrality in aviation is a long and challenging one, but we will proceed towards that goal in a determined manner, step by step,” says Topi Manner, Finnair’s CEO. “On this journey, we need a transparent and credible process of offsets and emissions trading, while our main focus remains on reducing the emissions from our flights. We will also engage all our partners, customers and other stakeholders in this vigorous work.”
During the strategy period, Finnair targets sustainable profitable growth, with annual capacity growth between 3-5%, in line with market growth. In its strategy, Finnair will leverage the geographical location of Helsinki and the direct, short and fuel-efficient routes it enables to Asian megacities.