Sustainability in Aviation: CSR and Air Transportation

The transformation of companies from their preliminary forms they were used to have during the nineteenth and the first half of twentieth century into organizations with economic, social, and environmental hypostasis has started during the second half of the twentieth century and it is ongoing so far. Basic elements for this developing process are the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development (SD) which are spreading in every aspect of global economy. The widely accepted need for a new orientation toward sustainable development has enhanced the idea of CSR as a call to every company to reconsider its multiple roles inside the modern economic, social, and environmental framework. Aviation is a dynamic sector of global economy, a basic leverage of globalization and its impact is intense in environment, society, and economy (Panagiotopoulos, Energy management and corporate social responsibility: The case of air transportation. University of the Aegean, 2020). The International Air Transport Association (IATΑ) is on the forefront of the sustainability efforts for the aviation, and, at the 77th IATA Annual General Meeting held in Boston, USA, on 4th October 2021, a resolution was passed by IATA member airlines committing them to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from their operations by 2050. This commitment aligns air transportation industry with the objectives of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 °C (IATA, Our commitment to fly net zero by 2050. https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/flynetzero/ , 2023). The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has reiterated the two global aspirational goals for the international aviation sector of 2% annual fuel efficiency improvement through 2050 and carbon neutral growth from 2020 onwards, as established at the 37th Assembly in 2010 (ICAO, ICAO environment: climate change. www.icao.int/environmental-protection/pages/climate-change.aspx , 2023a). It is obvious that there is a trend from the majority of factors and institutions in the international aviation industry to contribute to global efforts toward sustainability in accordance with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by United Nations (UN) especially those connected with clean energy and preservation of environment (United Nations, Sustainable development goals - The sustainable development agenda. UN Official Website. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda-retired/#:~:text=On%201%20January%202016%2C%20the,Summit%20%E2%80%94%20officially%20came%20into%20force , n.d.). The present chapter focuses on the development of CSR strategy in aviation sector which could be considered one of the most dynamic industries in the efforts for improving its global environmental footprint. The major negative impacts of aviation on the environment and the society are analyzed along with the initiatives which have been undertaken by the major protagonists in aviation industry. Furthermore, an air carrier which is one of the leaders in air transportation industry the last decades is selected for the presentation of its CSR strategy. It is a case study for Emirates Airlines, an international company located in the UAE which has one of the most interesting and extended policies in CSR field. This analysis covers the main topics to which air carriers orient their CSR policies which are energy management, air emissions, and noise control.