Lufthansa Leads On Carbon Offsetting Solutions
Corporate flyers who want to help solve climate change through more sustainable travel practices have a new mission partner in Lufthansa. The German airline is incorporating carbon offsetting as an integral part of its new Lufthansa Group Corporate Value Fares for contract customers.
These will be launched in 2020 as one of a range of climate-friendly business travel products. With the new corporate value fares, corporate customers can fly CO2-neutral on Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines flights in the European market. For the first time, carbon offsetting will be automatically included in these fares for contract customers.
The CO2 offsetting is carried out through the certified climate protection projects of the Swiss foundation “myclimate.” The non-profit organization, with which the Lufthansa Group has been working for effective climate protection since 2007, guarantees that the projects not only reduce greenhouse gases but also contribute to the global sustainable development goals of the United Nations.
For example, myclimate supports a reforestation project in Nicaragua, photovoltaic plants in the Dominican Republic and the dissemination of energy-efficient cookers powered by solar power and biomass energy in Rwanda, Kenya, Madagascar and China. These measures reduce the fuel consumption of wood and coal, protect the local forests, contribute to the improvement of air quality and deliver the associated CO2 savings.
“The Lufthansa Group takes its responsibility for the environment very seriously and has already taken many initiatives to reduce the CO2 emissions of its aircraft,” says Heike Birlenbach, the senior VP sales for Lufthansa Group Network Airlines.
“With the new Lufthansa Group Corporate Value Fares, we are now taking the next step and offering our corporate customers in all European markets an innovative solution for sustainable mobility.”
Passengers in other classes, such as leisure flyers, have the option to offset the CO2 emissions of their flights on Lufthansa, SWISS, Edelweiss Air and Eurowings in cooperation with “Compensaid” and myclimate. Austrian Airlines offers this option through its partner Climate Austria.
As well, Miles & More participants can also make an individual donation of between 3,000 and 50,000 miles to the myclimate foundation for each flight at miles-and-more.com under “Donate miles,” to make their contribution to climate protection.
