TIACA survey reveals growing pressure on sustainability in air cargo
26 / 02 / 2024
Photo: petrmalinak/ Shutterstock
TIACA’s latest sustainability survey has revealed a growing focus on sustainability in air cargo but also a gap between the smaller and larger organisations in terms of investment.
The survey of more than 280 air cargo professionals – produced in partnership with consultancy Change Horizon – showed that 67% of respondents felt that the pressure to be sustainable had increased compared with last year, mainly driven by demands from business partners and regulators.
Asked why sustainability is important, the top answer with 80% was customers – a two percentage point increase on a year ago.
73% said the move towards sustainability was driven by employees, up from 69% last year, and 69% said it was important for business partners, seven percentage points higher than in 2023.
However, the survey also revealed a growing gap between smaller and larger companies in terms of the focus on sustainability initiatives.
The survey showed that 92% of large companies had a sustainability strategy, compared with 56% of medium companies and 46% of small companies.
It also showed that 45% of companies produced a sustainability report, but this number hides huge differences depending on company size, said TIACA director general Glyn Hughes.
Around 70% of large companies produce a sustainability report, compared with 21% of medium companies and 17% of small companies.
“It’s not surprising when you consider that smaller organisations have fewer staff so it is more difficult to dedicate people to this area,” said Hughes.
“It is something we as an organisation are going to have to provide support in because it is important for everybody to make sure that, as the industry users of the system demand things, all segments can respond.”
Hughes revealed that TIACA will this year launch a new certified carbon offsetting programme that can be accessed on the organisation’s website that aims to make it easier for small companies to improve their sustainability offering.
Elsewhere, the survey found that the industry was focussing its emissions reduction efforts on reducing energy consumption (76%), fleet renewal (75%) and fleet utilisation optimisation (72%).
Investments in ‘sustainable’ fuel (57%), asset weight reduction (51%) and green buildings (49%) also scored highly.
There were also positive results in terms of investment in developing talent, with 79% of respondents saying their companies invest in training and education – a three percentage point improvement on the last survey.
Also, 76% of respondents said their companies were looking to improve the employee experience (up three percentage points) and 70% were advancing diversity and inclusion (up two percentage points).
