The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price slid into the red on Friday, ending the day 0.19% lower at $5.24.
It comes amid the airline posting its sustainability report for 2022.
Fellow ASX airline share Air New Zealand Limited (ASX: AIZ) ended the day up 0.84%, while the S&P/ASX 200 Industrials Index (ASX: XNJ), of which Qantas is a part, closed down 0.24%.
Additionally, Qantas also posted its 2022 annual report on Friday. This revealed the company paid chief executive Alan Joyce $2.3 million last year, a rise of 15%, as my Foolish colleague Seb reported.
Let's go over the highlights of the sustainability report.
What did Qantas announce?
- 29 million single-use plastics removed
- 37.4% of women in leadership
- US$200M (AU$292.70M) Qantas and Airbus partnership for domestic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production
- 24% improvement in total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR)
Qantas stated that it had incorporated environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies into its financial framework, with a long-term view of decarbonising its fleet. This will be achieved partly by tying executive pay with its climate targets.
The airline is tackling climate change through the implementation of several strategies. These include improving the fuel efficiency of its fleet, with the end goal of using hydrogen propulsion technology. Another strategy is to offset its carbon emissions by investing in Australian and international projects that benefit their local communities.
A target of reducing emissions by 25% by 2030 was given as one of the first milestones. It also aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
What did management say?
Qantas chairman Richard Goyder said:
This year, following the release of the Qantas Group's Climate Action Plan, sustainability became one of the four key foundations for the Group, and one of the seven focus areas of the Group Corporate Strategy. As of this year, executive remuneration is also linked to a climate-related target.
CEO Joyce also commented:
In 2019, Qantas became only the second airline group in the world to commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In March this year, in the Qantas Group Climate Action Plan, we set out the steps we'll take to get there, including an interim target of 25 per cent carbon emission reduction and a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) target of 10 per cent in our fuel mix, both by 2030.
Joyce continued:
SAF is the key lever we have to reduce emissions, particularly while new low-emission aircraft technology is still decades away. In January, we started using blended SAF on the Kangaroo route between London and Sydney, and we signed a deal to uplift SAF from Californian ports from 2025.
Qantas share price snapshot
The Qantas share price is up around 2% this year to date. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down around 9% over the same period.
The airline has a market capitalisation is $9.92 billion.
