Business

Corporate Responsibility within the Lufthansa Group

Global Sustainability Goals are the Top Priority

September 04th, 2018
Veronica Bernovschi, News from Berlin
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The Lufthansa Group is an aviation company with worldwide operations and more than 550 subsidiaries and affiliated companies. Conducting business according to responsible and sustainable principles – in all Company areas and along the entire value chain – is an aspiration that forms the basis for the Lufthansa Group’s business activities and its guidelines day after day.

Developments in society have a profound influence on the business activities and sustainability agenda of the Lufthansa Group. Among the worldwide megatrends and challenges are population growth, increasing mobility, technological progress and the advancing digitalization of numerous processes. Concurrently, environmental protection is gaining increasing importance against the backdrop of climate change and resource shortages. For the Lufthansa Group, facing up to these developments means acting sustainably and responsibly. In this context, the Group places the focus on those aspects that allow it to achieve significant effects. In particular, this includes limiting environmentally relevant effects from flight operations by making comprehensive investments in new aircraft, technologies and products.

The Lufthansa Group pursues an extensive sustainability agenda, which comprises six dimensions and ensures responsible corporate governance in all business segments. The Corporate Responsibility dimensions of the Lufthansa Group are: Economic sustainability; Corporate Governance and compliance; Climate and environmental responsibility; Social responsibility; Product responsibility; Corporate citizenship.

The central element of the Agenda 2030 is a set of 17 global sustainability goals, which were adopted in September 2015 by the United Nations’ members. The SDGs are reflected in the important action areas of the Lufthansa Group. A large part of the global sustainability goals is relevant for the Group, even though intensity and the shape vary.

Of particular importance for the entrepreneurial activities of the Lufthansa Group are support for climate goals and the responsible use of resources. These are the areas where the Company sees the greatest opportunities for applying its influence in order to make a measurable contribution. The same is true for promoting female employees and the continuous improvement of working conditions. In the context of innovation and digitalization projects the Lufthansa Group also pays increased attention to social and ecological compatibility. Among others, this applies to paperless aviation, the promotion of intermodal solutions, electro mobility at airports and active noise abatement.

In addition to its entrepreneurial activities, the Lufthansa Group’s commitment includes its registered charity help alliance, which was given a new base effective January 1, 2017, whose emphasis is the areas of education and enabling. For a long time, high quality training and continuing education programs have been of particularly high importance across the entire company. Beyond this, the Group supports the SDGs by means of cooperation with science and research as well as its active participation in numerous national and international committees and workgroups. Some examples are its participation in econsense, German industry’s forum for sustainable development and its support for climate research.

Corporate responsibility, that is to say sustainable and responsible entrepreneurial practice, is an integral part of Lufthansa's Group corporate strategy. It means that they are committed to creating added value for their customers, employees and investors and to meeting our responsibilities toward the environment and society.

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News from Berlin