Dubai, The Emirates Group released its second annual environment report today, expanding the scope from previous year to include data on its facilities outside Dubai and additional business areas. The Emirates Group Environmental Report covers the same period as the Emirates Group’s financial reporting year, from 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2012.

According to the report, a key factor in the Group’s environmental strategy, is the Boeing 777 order for an additional 50 aircraft in November 2011. Together with airlines' average fleet age of only 6.4 years versus the global IATA average of 11.3 years, Emirates fuel efficiency results are 22.5% improved from the IATA average and CO2 emissions are 18.1% improved from the IATA average.

Emirates Group highlighted key areas as following:

  • Switching to lighter-weight Kevlar Cargo unit loading devices, saving 14,475 tonnes of fuel and 45,595 tonnes of CO2 emissions
  • Increasing frequency of engine washes by Emirates Engineering, saving an estimated 314 tonnes of fuel and 989 tonnes of CO2 emissions
  • Eliminating e-waste through recycling obsolete PCs, monitors, laptops, printers, and toner cartridges, saving around 5,800 items from landfills
  • Recycling over 33 tonnes of used clothing and shoes through staff donations, saving 40% more than the previous reporting year; and initiating a company-wide switch to recycled paper, saving approximately 1,700 trees, more than 400,000 kWh of electricity, 3.3million liters of water, and 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions

Andrew Parker, senior vice-president, public, industry, international and environmental Affairs said, “As the Emirates Group grows across its various divisions, we fully recognize our environmental responsibility in the locations in which we operate and via the way we fly our aircraft. This second Environment Report allows us to benchmark our performance against last year and with others in the industry, with the aim of maximizing eco-efficiency to minimise our environmental footprint.

“ We have identified some clear successes, but the report also serves to highlight where we can look to improve.”