Maintaining balance. Out of responsibility: Lufthansa publishes 25th sustainability report

Today, the Lufthansa Group has published its 25th sustainability report. For a quarter of a century now, the company has been providing information every year on the various activities, programs and advances but also challenges in the area of corporate responsibility, with the title “Balance”. In 2018, the Group identified the key areas for current reporting in cooperation with its interest groups again, in a large-scale stakeholder survey. The results are published in the sustainability report as a materiality matrix.

Responsibility towards the environment and towards society is a central strategic principle for the Lufthansa Group. For years now, the company has been strongly committed to limiting the environmental impact of its business activities to the unavoidable minimum – in the air and on the ground. The cover story “Maintaining balance. Out of responsibility.” shows what the Lufthansa Group has achieved since 1994 in terms of sustainability and takes a look at future commitments: “Being an aviation group, we are aware of the fact that the past years’ growth in passenger numbers also implies growing responsibility for us to ensure that future mobility will be shaped in environmentally compatible ways. To reach this goal, we continuously invest in new and especially efficient aircraft. We intend to take a leadership role within the aviation industry on the topic of responsibility,” as Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, writes in the preface of the sustainability report.

With success: the airlines of the Lufthansa Group have not only increased their fuel efficiency by 30 percent since 1994; they also set a new efficiency record in 2018: on average, the passenger airlines only used 3.65 liters of kerosene to fly a passenger 100 kilometers. That is an improvement of 0.8 percent and the lowest figure in the history of the company so far.

The new record is largely the result of the sustainable fleet renewal program and numerous fuel efficiency projects. The Lufthansa Group is not only a pioneer in the introduction of new, environmentally friendly technologies – it also invests continuously in the optimization of its existing fleet. Just this March, the Group ordered 40 ultramodern Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft which are considered to be the most fuel-efficient in their class. In total, the Lufthansa Group currently has 210 new aircraft on order, with delivery dates until 2027 (as of 7 May 2019). Lufthansa will also be receiving its first Boeing 777-9 in the summer of 2020, as one of the first airlines worldwide. The Group has ordered a total of 20 of these particularly efficient long-haul aircraft.
With over 135,000 employees worldwide from 176 nations, the Lufthansa Group is an international company (1994: 57,798 employees from 91 countries). Diversity and equal opportunity, respect for human rights as well as respect and appreciation shape our company as well as our actions toward customers and suppliers. These and other values and standards are documented in the Lufthansa Group Code of Conduct, which was adopted in 2017.

As a corporate citizen, the aviation group has also been involved in matters of social and societal significance for 20 years with its charitable aid organization, help alliance. Since 1999, the help alliance has invested 17 million euros in aid projects, helping 23,000 disadvantaged people per year around the world to lead self-determined lives.