British Airways Takes Flight Towards Carbon Neutrality

British Airways has inked a six-year deal to buy over £9 million worth of cutting-edge carbon reduction credits both domestically and internationally. The agreement is a component of the airline's grand plan to intensify its climate change initiatives by 2030.

CO2 emissions from whisky distilleries will be collected and converted into construction materials for a revolutionary project in Scotland. Another, located throughout the United Kingdom, stores carbon for millennia using an improved rock weathering process. The airline intends to augment the number of forested areas in Scotland and Wales by acquiring carbon removal credits from two firms that specialize in reforestation projects with high durability.

The airline’s portfolio also includes Canadian carbon capture projects, which focus on carbon removal from rivers and oceans using alkaline rock particles. In India, the airline is backing a biochar project that empowers female farmers while enhancing soil biodiversity and farm yields.

British Airways joined forces with CUR8, a UK-based company that specialized in procuring high-quality carbon removal credits. Through its CUR8 portfolio, the airline has acquired 33,000 tons of carbon removal credits, a minor but significant step toward advancing and scaling up this vital industry. Governments, regulators, and scientists all agree that carbon removals are an essential instrument in the fight against climate change, but there is an urgent need to expand this industry.

Carrie Harris, Director of Sustainability at British Airways, said: "As we approach the halfway point in this critical decade of action, we’re sharpening our focus on delivering real, tangible progress by 2030. We know flying has a significant impact on the planet, and achieving net zero by 2050 requires bold, innovative action today and long-term transformation, and our latest investments in carbon removals reflect this commitment. While small compared to our total emissions, these projects are crucial in stimulating the carbon removal market. By supporting pioneering solutions, we’re contributing to immediate progress and laying the groundwork for the large-scale changes needed to meet our climate goals. There is no pathway to net zero for aviation without carbon removals.”

Carbon removal is the process of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and securely storing it for several decades if not millennia. British Airways' removal portfolio encompasses a range of techniques, from sequestering carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and storing it for a long time underground to accelerated rock weathering.

With this new investment, British Airways has become the largest buyer of carbon removals in the UK, combined with its prior removal purchases. By entering into this agreement, British Airways is actively contributing to the growth of removals from the UK and worldwide, strengthening ties with essential carbon removal suppliers, and gaining a more profound comprehension of this emerging but crucial sector.

Marta Krupinska, CEO of CUR8, said: “British Airways understands that carbon removals are not a nice-to-have, but an essential part of the aviation sector’s net zero journey. We've been proud to partner with this aviation leader to build a portfolio that combines the best of nature and human engineering, stretching from UK soils to the oceans and rivers of Canada. At CUR8, we bring together the world’s leading scientists and climate software to help organisations source and manage carbon removals to help de-risk their net zero future. British Airways is a leading brand that recognises that this early investment can help make an impact not only for themselves but for the industry at large.”

British Airways joined the elite group of airlines in 2019 that pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. As part of its 2030 focus, the company plans to establish new internal carbon reduction targets and a new sustainability learning program to educate and motivate staff members and find more areas for improvement to promote change.

Along with the partnerships made possible by CUR8, British Airways has also bought a small quantity of carbon removal credits from 1PointFive, a US-based company that is developing a Direct Air Capture plant in Texas, and Climeworks, which runs the two largest Direct Air Capture plants in the world and intends to expand internationally.

Since 2019, British Airways has supported research and innovation to help speed up the development of cutting-edge solutions. By 2050, substantial carbon reductions and removals in other sectors will account for almost one-third of the airline's emissions reductions.

Further Commitment to Innovative Partnerships

Announcing a new cooperation with The Earthshot Prize and joining the Global Alliance, British Airways acknowledges innovation's critical role in ensuring climate solutions. The Earthshot Prize is an international environmental award established by Prince William in 2020 to identify, highlight, and expand the ground-breaking ideas required to restore and rejuvenate the world.

British Airways will help find, fund, and accelerate creative, scalable climate solutions for people and the environment by partnering with The Earthshot Prize. These solutions include cutting back on single-use plastics and finding alternative energies. Previous winners of the prize include Notpla, a business that specializes in biodegradable packaging that British Airways recently partnered with, and LanzaTech, a carbon recycling company that works closely with LanzaJet, the airline's sustainable aviation fuel partner, to bring emerging sustainable technologies to market. British Airways intends to investigate potential joint ventures with upcoming prize recipients.

The emphasis on immediate results and these new alliances support the airline's ongoing efforts to meet its sustainability targets. These include funding Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) projects in the United States and the United Kingdom, where around 1% of SAF is regularly fed into Heathrow's existing pipeline infrastructure, and operating newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft to increase both on-and off-air operational efficiency. Over 90% of Heathrow Airport's vehicles and ground equipment now have zero emissions whether in use or driven, are hybrids, or run on HVO fuel thanks to investments made by British Airways this year.