Carbon offsetting will be automatically included in new business travel fares being introduced across Lufthansa Group airlines in the new year.
The ‘corporate value fares’ will be available from January across the German flag carrier, Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Details of the costs were not disclosed.
The CO2 offsetting is carried out through certified climate protection projects of non-profit Swiss foundation myclimate.
Initiatives include a re-forestation project in Nicaragua, photovoltaic plants in the Dominican Republic and the dissemination of energy-efficient cookers powered by solar power and energy from biomass in Rwanda, Kenya, Madagascar and China.
The measures aim to reduce the fuel consumption of wood and coal, protect the local forests and contribute to the improvement of air quality in addition to associated CO2 savings.
Participants in the Miles & More frequent flyer scheme can also make an individual donation of between 3,000 and 50,000 miles to the myclimate foundation for each flight.
Lufthansa Group is working on a tariff option without CO2 compensation for companies that already have their own initiatives.
Chief commercial officer Heike Birlenbach said: “The Lufthansa Group takes its responsibility for the environment very seriously and has already taken many initiatives to reduce the CO2 emissions of its aircraft.
“With the new corporate value fares, we are now taking the next step and offering our corporate customers in all European markets an innovative solution for sustainable mobility. We have already made our own business air travel CO2-neutral.”