Airline expands tree-planting initiative to include cargo

September 1, 2024 | 3:49pm

MANILA, Philippines — For four years now, Cathay has been staging its “1 Ticket, 1 Tree” environmental initiative across Southeast Asia.

It has become an annual manifestation of its commitment to support local communities, restore local habitats, and drive climate resilience.

For the weeklong duration of the environmental initiative, the airline shall plant one tree for every flight ticket purchased from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. The airline will take into account tickets purchased on its website and mobile app, as well as those booked by corporate clients through its agents.

Since its launch in 2021, “1 Ticket, 1 Tree” has gained momentum in Southeast Asia, resulting in the planting of 30,000 mangrove trees. The initiative has seen collaboration from 13 partners, including corporations, non-profit organizations, and local environment and community groups, who have joined the airline in its efforts to educate communities, plant trees, and ensure the trees’ sustainable growth.

Expanding the initiative to include cargo

This year, in addition to flight tickets purchased, Cathay broadened its tree-planting initiative to include cargo shipments across the region. It introduced “1 Tonne, 1 Tree,” where it pledged to plant a mangrove tree for every tonne of cargo booked by its agents and shippers in Southeast Asia during the last week of July. 

“Given the vital role of mangrove forests in supporting local communities and protecting their livelihoods, doing our part to ensure they grow and thrive deeply resonates with us. We are therefore very encouraged by the strong support ‘1 Ticket, 1 Tree’ has received across Southeast Asia since we started this initiative four years ago. More and more partners are coming on board, and having our cargo agents involved this year is another step towards amplifying our collective efforts,” said Cathay Regional General Manager for Southeast Asia Dominic Perret. 

Growing greener together

As one of the first airlines in Asia to set a target of 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for its total fuel consumption by 2030, the airline fully recognizes the challenges in transitioning to more sustainable energy in aviation.

To address this, it embraces a collaborative ethos, Greener Together, urging all stakeholders to unite in this important pursuit. Beyond SAF, the airline has also made important strides towards its 2050 carbon neutrality goal in other aspects of de-carbonization.

It announced the extension of Fly Greener, its carbon-offset program, to its air cargo services in 2022. Customers can use an integrated carbon emissions calculator to work out the carbon emissions of shipments and the cost to offset them. They can then make a contribution to purchase carbon offsets that come from carefully selected carbon-offset projects.

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