Our work for environment
Our goals
To ensure our customers can continue to benefit from the social and economic good that flying brings to our lives, we are committed to reducing the carbon emissions of flying.
Finnair has set a science-based target to reduce our carbon emissions intensity (CO2e/RTK) by 34.5% by 2033 from a 2023 baseline. The target has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). For the long-term, we are together with our industry aiming towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
Key actions to reduce emissions include:
- increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
- decreasing the operative weight of our aircraft
- investing in fuel efficient flight operations
- looking into new technological solutions
Modern fleet
Majority of our long-haul flights are operated with our fuel-efficient Airbus A359 aircraft, with
- lightweight material airframe
- latest generation engines
- adaptive wing-shape technology
- highly integrated systems
- decreasing fuel burn - producing 25% less carbon emissions compared to A330
Helsinki Hub designed for sustainability
Our Helsinki Hub, the COOL Nordic Cargo Hub, opened in 2018, was designed keeping sustainability in mind. Building design is a factor, but in the long run the everyday operational energy-saving measures are important.
The BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certified terminal features:
- 2,990 solar panels provide ~37% of the terminal's energy use - read more: Upgraded solar plant
- Operational efficiency measures include automated warehousing and storage area, truck yard management system and automated guidance systems to minimise energy consumption at premises
- Waste management to optimise recycling and re-use of wrapping materials
Eliminating waste from operations
- Lean processes combined with technology lead to smooth and sustainable cargo service.
- Technology can bring numerous data points together but active collaboration between all stakeholders in the transport chain is needed as well.
- Sustainable approaches contribute to customer experience too.
What we are working on
In our operations, the materials we consume and utilize have also an impact on our environmental footprint. At Finnair, we have set a company-wide target for Circular Economy: 100% Material Management. Our Circular Economy implementation objective focuses on the materials of industrial sectors that use the most resources and where the potential for circularity is high. These sectors include plastics, packaging, textiles & fibres, electronics & ICT, batteries & vehicles, and construction & buildings.
We aim to ensure that all waste from our operations ending at our Helsinki hub is re-used either as energy, heat, biogas, manure, or material, with zero waste ending up in landfills.
Our key actions for more sustainable material management are:
- We include circular economy design principles in all operations.
- We focus on reducing waste and strive to turn waste streams into material streams for use in other industries.
- Plastics:
- Gradually substituting single-use plastics, recycling, paying attention also on microplastics, and biobased and biodegradable plastics.
- Wood:
- Reuse, recycling and reduction - under further investigation.
- Cardboard:
- Recycling.
- Nets and straps
- Reuse, repair, recycling - under investigation.
- Plastics:
