Lufthansa Group has become the first European airline company to join the First Movers Coalition, which aims to make flying and other forms of transport more sustainable.
The coalition was first launched at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow two years ago for countries and companies to “jointly promote the development and deployment of sustainable technologies of the future”.
US-based airlines Delta and United are already members alongside aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. Leading global TMC American Express Global Business Travel is also part of the coalition, which is led by the World Economic Forum and the US government.
“By joining the First Movers Coalition, the Lufthansa Group commits itself to the use of state-of-the-art and innovative aviation fuel and propulsion technologies,” said the German airline group in a statement. “It affirms its ambition to further advance the future of flying together with partners worldwide through innovation and technical know-how.”
The group, which also owns Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss, is committed to using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for at least 5 per cent of its fuel requirements by 2030.
Lufthansa Group also aims to achieve net-zero on carbon emissions by 2050 and halve CO2 by 2030 compared to 2019 levels through reduction and compensation measures.
Christina Foerster, member of Lufthansa’s executive board, said: “We are proud to be the first European airline group to join the First Movers Coalition. This underpins our commitment to drive the development, market introduction and use of SAF.
“SAF is a central element of our CO2 reduction roadmap by 2030, which was validated by the independent Science Based Targets initiative."
The group added that it was particularly focused on “accelerated” fleet modernisation, the use of SAF, optimised flight operations and promoting ways for corporate customers to make flights more sustainable.