6 highlights of our sustainability work from last year

We have published our first Sustainability Report, which has been prepared in accordance with the EU's new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The report compiles over 500 key figures on our sustainability work and contains extensive information on Finnair's impacts on the environment and people, as well as how various sustainability themes affect Finnair. You can read the entire report here, but you can already start by reading this Blue Wings story about the six highlights of our sustainability work from last year.

1. We doubled our use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a safe and certified alternative that we can use today to reduce the negative impact of flying on the climate. Because SAF is made from various wastes and residues, such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste, instead of crude oil, its use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% over the fuel's entire lifecycle compared to the use of fossil jet fuel.

Last year, we used 4,685 tons of SAF, which covered 0.46% of all the jet fuel we used. While this amount is still small, it's twice as much as the previous year when we used 2,266 tons of SAF, accounting for 0.24% of our total consumption. This year, we expect the share of SAF to rise to 1.8%. By 2030, together with the oneworld alliance, we aim to use 10% SAF.

2. Our ground operations at our Helsinki Hub are carbon neutral in terms of energy use: the share of emission offsetting dropped to 11% 

While the majority of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from flying, we also focus on emissions from our other operations. Our ground operations at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, which include e.g. our own vehicles used for transporting cargo and food, have been carbon neutral in terms of energy use since 2023. However, since last year, this carbon neutrality has been achieved mostly through emission reductions rather than emission offsetting.

Our own vehicles in ground operations at Helsinki-Vantaa now use electricity produced with renewable energy, renewable diesel, and renewable fuel oil. Additionally, our own properties use carbon dioxide-free electricity and district heating produced with renewable energy. We also produce some of the electricity ourselves with solar panels.

The transition to renewable fuels and energy has allowed us to significantly reduce the amount of emission offsetting. While in 2023 we offset over 8,900 tons of emissions from ground operations, which was about 98%, last year we only had to offset about 643 tons of emissions, or about 11%. Last year's offsetting covered the emissions from gasoline used in vehicles, fossil fuel oil used in the beginning of the year, and the production emissions of renewable fuels. The emissions were offset with certified voluntary emission reduction projects (VER).

3. Waste per customer reduced to 213 grams

Millions of customers travel with us annually, so recycling, packaging of products used on flights, and food waste management matter. Small things become big when multiplied by the 100,000 flights we operate annually.

All waste generated during flights and returning to Helsinki is 100% utilized for energy or recycled. No waste ends up in landfills. We particularly monitor how much waste our operations generate per passenger. In 2021, 340 grams of waste was generated, but last year it was only 213 grams. The scope of the figure is waste generated at our own operations at our hub at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport and returning flights. We've been able to reduce waste by, for example, redesigning packaging for products sold on flights and reducing packaging materials.

When waste is generated, we aim to recycle as much of it as possible. This year, we plan to pilot the recycling of cardboard and small plastic bottles on flights arriving at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. This could direct about 20,000 kilograms more material to recycling instead of using the waste for energy.

4. We assessed the human rights risks in our operations

An airline's sustainability work isn't just about carbon footprints and circular economy. Our operations directly or indirectly affect a vast number of people whom we must also consider. To take necessary measures to reduce human rights risks, for example, the first step is to understand what kind of human rights impacts can occur in our value chain.

Last year, we mapped, evaluated, and prioritized the human rights impacts of our operations. The mapping covered both our own and our value chain's employees, our customers, and local communities. In this work, we utilized country- and category-specific risk assessments, supplemented with information gathered from internal working groups and interviews, as well as international human rights reports.

We particularly wanted to better understand what are the potential negative human rights impacts of our business on local communities and members of vulnerable groups. Based on the results, we identified that such potential impacts include depletion of natural resources, waste generation due to excessive tourism and strain on the local environment, and exacerbation of climate change impacts in communities.

We continue this work by developing action plans to reduce identified human rights risks and improving our processes for their continuous assessment. As a first step for 2025, we published Finnair's Policy Commitment to Human Rights, which describes how we ensure due diligence on human rights in our operations.

5. New efforts for promoting diversity

Finnair is a diverse group of about 5,600 employees, consisting of over 60 nationalities and languages, different genders, age groups, and backgrounds. We want to learn as a work community to recognize that diversity is a richness and that everyone can feel valued and respected as an individual.

One way to progress towards this goal is to increase awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among our staff. Last year, we increased efforts to raise awareness by developing guidelines for inclusive language, implementing a DEI-focused eLearning course available to all employees, and incorporating DEI principles into leadership trainings and employee events. We also participated in the 2024 Helsinki Pride event as one of the official Working with Pride partners.

6. We set a science-based climate target

We want to enable a future where you can continue exploring the world but with a smaller impact on the environment. To progress towards this, we set a science-based climate target last year to improve our emission efficiency by 2033. The target has been verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and supports the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.