Qantas passengers choosing to pay to fly greener

One aspect of Qantas’s operations has not suffered throughout the pandemic as passengers continue to offset their flights.

Qantas is remaining committed to becoming a greener airline as it navigates the COVID crisis. Picture: Sam Mooy

Qantas has revealed its carbon offsets program has been one part of the airline not to suffer throughout the Covid crisis, with passengers continuing to pay extra to fly greener.

Announcing a partnership with oil company BP to develop sustainable aviation fuel, Qantas Group Executive for Government and Sustainability Andrew Parker, said their commitment to the environment remained unchanged.

“Even though we have been flying a lot less, we’ve actually seen the same proportion of customers choosing to offset their domestic travel during the pandemic – showing that this issue remains top of mind for people,” Mr Parker said.

Qantas has previously been recognised as having the world’s most successful carbon offsets program, with 10 per cent of passengers choosing to negate the emissions from their flight by paying a small amount towards reforestation and other environmental projects.

In some parts of the country such as northern New South Wales, the percentage of passengers choosing to offset is as high as 25 per cent.

“Airlines globally have a responsibility to cut emissions and combat climate change, particularly once travel demand starts to return,” Mr Parker said.

“The Qantas Group has set some ambitious targets to be net carbon neutral by 2050 and while offsetting emissions is a big part of that in the next few years, longer term initiatives like building a sustainable aviation fuel sector in Australia, are key.”

The agreement between Qantas and BP will see the companies explore opportunities and projects in areas such as advanced sustainable fuels, advocacy for further decarbonisation in the aviation sector, renewable power solutions and generation, and emerging technology.

William Lin, BP’s executive vice president of regions, cities and solutions, said they were focusing on working with corporates in key industrial sectors that currently had significant carbon emissions to manage, such as aviation.

“By bringing our complementary capabilities together, we can help each other, and our customers, move at a faster pace on the energy transition journey,” Mr Lin said.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Qantas on plans to reach net zero while continuing to deepen our existing relationship.”

Asia Pacific president of BP, Frederic Baudry said the partnership would take them closer to being a net zero (emissions) company by 2050 or sooner, and help the world get to net zero.

“We believe the planet needs everyone working together on this vital cause, and that supporting companies to transition to a more sustainable future means we can all get there faster,” Mr Baudry said.

“Forming strong strategic partnerships with leading companies like Qantas is an important way to achieve our shared goals and we are proud that BP is working to provide decarbonisation solutions for customers in Australia.”

Qantas will announce its half year results on February 25, with the airline group expected to record a substantial loss.

In the 2020 financial year, the Qantas Group posted a $2bn after tax loss, and flagged a reduction in its workforce of close to 8500 people.