Etihad unites industry leaders in major sustainability drive

Etihad Airways is bringing the aviation industry's leading organisations together under its strategic sustainability programme to drive decarbonisation.

The move will help create the industry’s most comprehensive multi-organisational partnership to reduce Co2 emissions globally.
 
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier has signed multiple partnership and collaboration agreements with top manufacturers, suppliers and stakeholders at the 2021 Dubai Airshow.

Etihad’s sustainability programme, which to date has been focused on the airline’s fleet of GEnX powered Boeing 787s under the Greenliner Programme, will now be complimented by a similar programme focussed on maximising the opportunities presented by the inclusion of the Rolls Royce XWB powered Airbus A350 fleet.

The first of Etihad’s A350s, launched at the Dubai Airshow as the “Sustainability50”, carries a unique “UAE50” livery in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the federation of the UAE and the airline’s commitment to the 2050 target of net-zero carbon emissions.

The airline's work with partners including Boeing, GE, Airbus and Rolls Royce supports the organisation’s strategic objectives to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in emissions intensity in its passenger fleet by 2025, cut 2019 net emissions by 50 per cent by 2035, and reach net zero emissions by 2050.

"There's no silver bullet for this one, no obvious single act that will provide a solution. It's going to require the combination and the sum of many different organisations and governments working together for small, incremental improvements," said Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group.

"There is a big opportunity here that doesn’t require any new technology to implement and could be implemented today if there was a will," he added.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 on global aviation, Etihad’s Greenliner programme implemented key sustainability initiatives in 2020 and 2021 to test and develop long term decarbonisation solutions for commercial application.

Thanks to the success of the programme over the past 2 years, and the airline’s continued focus on sustainability, Etihad has revised its targets for CO2 reduction and is committed to remaining at 50 per cent of 2019 emissions as flight operations grow in the post-pandemic world.

• Based on Etihad’s fleet of 787s, the renewal today of the Etihad, Boeing and GE agreement under the Greenliner Programme will also see a renewed focus on propulsion, exploring new opportunities to test new technologies from GE Aviation and GE Digital that lower emissions.
• Etihad’s partnership with Airbus establishes a formal framework to collaborate for sustainability across a number of core areas on Etihad’s A350 fleet, in line with the organisations’ respective sustainability programmes to improve aviation’s environmental performance.
• Etihad’s agreement with Rolls-Royce is built around maximising the enormous potential of this engine, and beyond, targeting the application of electrification technologies and hybrid systems, together with the use of electric motors for commuter aircraft and the fast-emerging urban air mobility (UAMs) sector.

At the Dubai Airshow, Etihad also signed sustainability-focused agreements with Lufthansa Technik AG, SATAVIA, Tadweer (Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center) and The Storey Group.