BRITISH AIRWAYS CEO PLEDGES TO CUT NET CO2 BY 50 PER CENT BY 2050

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British Airways - the UK’s flagship carrier which operates 61 weekly flights from the GCC to London Heathrow - has unveiled a radical new environmental target of halving net CO2 emissions by 2050.

The new target, the most ambitious set by any leading global airline, is the latest in a series of environmentally conscious objectives introduced by British Airways and will reduce its net carbon output from 16 million tonnes in 2005 to eight million by mid-century.

“Some people say that in economic times as desperately tough as these, we can afford to put climate change issues on one side. I could not disagree more,” said Willie Walsh, British Airways’ Chief Executive.

“Halving net CO2 by 2050 is an extremely challenging target. But it is one I am sure we can achieve. We will make progress through investment in cleaner aircraft, use of alternative fuels, more efficient flight routings and the spread of emissions trading from Europe to the whole world.”

Despite commercial aviation contributing just two percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, British Airways is also spearheading efforts to include the industry’s output in the new global climate deal, set to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

Having formed the Aviation Global Deal (AGD) group - alongside Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, and UK airport operator, BAA - British Airways officials insist the industry must be present when the new deal is discussed at December’s United Nations summit in Copenhagen.

“Including aviation in a fair global climate deal would demonstrate just how seriously aviation takes its commitment to the environment and provide a key building block towards our target of a 50 per cent reduction by 2050,” said Andy Kershaw, the airline’s environmental policy manager.

Walsh also highlighted how green policies were already at the forefront of the company’s strategy: “We have taken climate change issues very seriously for a long time. More than a decade ago, we became the first airline to publish fuel efficiency targets – and we have achieved an improvement since then of almost 30 per cent.

“We are the only airline to have experience of emissions trading, and we have helped fund research into lower-carbon aviation fuels. We are currently working closely with Rolls-Royce to develop alternative fuel opportunities.”

British Airways currently has 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 12 Airbus A380s on order, with the fuel efficient, next generation aircraft a key pillar in the airline’s CO2 reduction pledge.