BCG and KPMG on board for Qantas emissions reductions scheme
National carrier Qantas has launched a new initiative to reduce flight emissions through sustainable fuel alternatives, with consulting firms KPMG and Boston Consulting Group among initial partners.
The local arms of KPMG and Boston Consulting Group are among five initial Australian companies to have got onboard a Qantas initiative aimed at carbon emissions reductions. Joined by Australia Post, Macquarie Group, and Woodside Energy, the scheme will allow for corporate partners to offset their travel emissions by way of an investment in sustainable aviation fuel SAF) as an alternative to traditional measures.
According to the national airline, members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Coalition will pay a premium to reduce around 900 tonnes of their carbon emissions per year by contributing to the incremental cost of SAF, with the added intention of demonstrating the demand for the alternative fuel product in efforts to develop a local industry.
Qantas is currently forced to negotiate with offshore suppliers. “The demand for sustainable aviation fuel has never been higher, but supply is lagging well behind, particularly without a local industry in Australia, and that’s keeping prices several times more expensive than traditional jet kerosene,” commented Qantas boss Alan Joyce.
“The more leading corporates that join our program/coalition, the more feasible a local industry becomes and the more cost-effective the fuel becomes.”
Made from bio-waste such as used cooking oil and animal fat and contributing around just one fifth of the emissions of standard jet fuel, various sources suggest there is only enough SAF currently produced worldwide to cover less than one percent of global flight use, and at least twice the cost.
Qantas has already committed to a $300 million investment alongside Airbus to support a local industry, and is currently seeking more coalition partners.
“I’m delighted to announce that BCG is a foundation member of Qantas’s Sustainable Airline Fuel Coalition, alongside four other Australian businesses. Between BCG and the other partners, we will initially contribute to the cost of up to 10 million litres of sustainable airline fuel sourced from the UK for Qantas flights from Heathrow,” stated BCG senior digital marketing specialist Jan Loubal in a post to LinkedIn.
Representing around 15 percent of the fuel Qantas would ordinarily consume on flights out of London, that figure is set to be bolstered by 2025, when the Coalition members will each contribute to a further 20 million annual litres of SAF sourced out of LA and San Francisco for flights from the US. The airline has committed to a one tenth SAF rate in its overall fuel mix by the end of the decade, with a view to around 60 per cent by 2050.
The move sees BCG’s local arm fly in the footsteps of its European wings. The firm’s Nordic division was the first to adopt flights powered by sustainable aviation fuel (in collaboration with airline SAS), and since then, a number of other country organisations have followed suit. BCG also signed an eight-year partnership with SkyNRG, a provider of sustainable aviation fuel.
Nationally, BCG’s joining of the Qantas reduction scheme follows the strategy and management consultancy’s recent launch of a Climate & Sustainability hub in Sydney, which will connect with the firm’s other global hubs and virtually serve businesses across the rest of Australia and New Zealand. On site, the new hub will serve as a venue for private and public clients to innovate, plan, and deliver their own decarbonisation initiatives.
