Professionals in ESG/sustainability talk about being siloed and not having enough exposure to or insight into company operations. That is generally true (we’ll be tackling that challenge soon), but usually the consequences don’t show themselves blatantly and publicly. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for British Airways. UK’s The Times wrote about a recent climate faux pas by the airline:
“British Airways has cancelled an offer encouraging staff to take cut-price flights on private jets … [which] have been found to release up to 14 times more pollution per passenger than a commercial flight because they carry so few people.
Three days later, BA announced that it had signed a £9 million deal with to become the UK’s biggest purchaser of carbon dioxide removal credits. It called the deal a key step in its ‘ambitious drive to accelerate the airline’s climate change efforts.’ Insiders at BA said the timing showed the company was not interested in ‘true sustainability’…
After being contacted by The Times, the airline said that it would withdraw the private jet benefit. ‘This was an oversight and we’re removing it as an offer for our colleagues,’ a spokesman said.”
Um, oops. Clearly, BA’s sustainability/climate team wasn’t in the room when the idea was brought up, vetted or approved. ESG/sustainability issues are relevant to every company department, activity and function. In BA’s case, they didn’t see the connection to employee benefits. Other companies should consider this a learning moment.
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Photo credit: MKPhoto – stock.adobe.com
