Your reason to travel is our reason to fly more sustainably

The pandemic affects the global society and of course us at SAS. During this time we have a limited offer, but that does not mean that our ambitions for sustainable travel have changed. On the contrary.

It is difficult to foresee how the pandemic will affect us, therefore we have chosen not to change the content of each part at present. If you have questions about our sustainability work as it looks now during the ongoing pandemic, you are warmly welcome to contact us at environment@sas.se.

SAS began reporting its sustainability work in externally audited reports 1996. All reports are available on SAS Group.

The latest report can be found here; The SAS Group's sustainability report for 2020.

We are currently facing major shared challenges around our global impact on climate and the environment. Clearly, SAS takes responsibility for its part in this and we’re working to ensure that we can continue to travel, meet and experience other cultures.

Every part of SAS is working on ways of achieving more sustainable travel. From the search for innovative technical solutions to the small but important improvements at day-to-day level. Together, we are taking many steps in the right direction. That’s why, here at SAS, we’ve launched a range of different projects and initiatives to make our journeys more sustainable. You can read about some of them on this page.

On the way to more sustainable travel

It is only by setting ambitious targets, that we can achieve change. That’s why SAS has set a range of tough targets that we are working hard to achieve, in both the short and long term.

We are actively working on reducing onboard weight and on improving and reviewing all onboard consumables, but the biggest investments are in new, modern and more energy efficient aircraft. In addition, in 2019 SAS and Airbus signed a declaration of intent to research around the development of electric aircraft. This is the first time an airline has embarked on a project with an aircraft manufacturer to introduce electric aircraft for large-scale, commercial use. The collaborations with Preem and AirBP, for example, will provide us with access to more biofuel, which emits around 80 percent less climate-impacting CO₂ than fossil-based aviation fuel.

The long-term objective is climate-neutral air travel.

In the meantime, here at SAS we have set ourselves a number of interim targets.

Examples include:

By 2025, we will have reduced total climate-impacting CO₂ emissions by 25 percent compared with 2005.

By 2030, correspondingly, all our domestic flights within Scandinavia (2019: 17 percent) will be powered by biofuel.
By 2030, noise will have been reduced by 50 percent compared with 2010.
By 2050, we will have reduced our climate-impacting CO₂ emissions by more than 50 percent compared with 2005. This target is more ambitious than the target set by the IATA, International Air Transport Association.

A sustainable packaging of the onboard dining experience

At SAS, we continuously work to make our product and service offering more sustainable, by replacing our materials with more sustainable ones and removing them where they are not needed. The smart and sustainable design of the New Nordic by SAS cube saves up to 51 tons of plastic per year. This is one of many important steps on our journey to reaching our goal of 100 percent sustainable materials in our customer offering by 2030.

Since November 2019, the New Nordic by SAS cube on short-haul flights has been transformed with a new design minimizing the use of oil-based plastic. The former inside plastic container has been replaced by an FSC-approved paper one that has a plastic coating and a plastic lid made from organic plant-based plastic.

The cutlery kits, wrapped in a paper napkin made from recycled material, are made of plant-based plastic and are adapted to each meal to minimize use of resources, meaning that each piece of cutlery is offered only if needed.

The new and more sustainable cube is just one change in our offering onboard. Step by step, all material used will become more sustainable, so there are plenty more initiatives to come.

SAS travelers can buy biofuel

We are continuously developing more sustainable products and services. Since June 2019 we have been inviting our travelers to be part of the transition to a more sustainable way of traveling, with the possibility to purchase biofuel. When booking your next trip, it is easy to buy biofuel, and so, contribute to reducing climate affecting CO₂ emissions by up to 80 percent, compared to conventional jet fuel.

Buying biofuel is possible when booking tickets, or at any other time before departure. Travelers can buy biofuel corresponding to 20-minute blocks of flight time for one passenger.

On a 60-minute flight, one 20-minute block of biofuel will correspond to a third of the average fuel consumption per passenger of an average flight. For example, to buy biofuel for a ticket on a 60-minute flight, a traveler would have to purchase three blocks to cover the full flight time.

Currently (Sept 2019), prices are set at 10 USD/10 EUR/100 SEK/100 NOK/70 DKK per block.

The amount of biofuel a traveler buys will not necessarily be used on the actual flight the traveler has bought a ticket for, but it will be used to replace fossil fuel to the equivalent amount in SAS’ operations.

SAS makes no profit on the transaction. Read more on our use of biofuel under “Biofuel, the bridge to more sustainable air travel.”

New, more efficient aircraft

SAS is making major investments in new aircraft. That means more comfortable journeys, but more importantly, it significantly reduces climate-impacting emissions.

Our new aircraft will make a difference to the planet. Over the next few years we will gradually be phasing in new aircraft, which will give us a fleet that comprises exclusively of modern, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Our new A320neo and A321neo LR (Long Range) aircraft from Airbus use 15-18 percent less fuel than the models they are replacing, and our new A350s from the same supplier use 30 percent less fuel than the A340s they are replacing. As a result, CO₂ emissions will decrease correspondingly and other climate-impacting emissions will also be reduced. Another advantage of the new aircraft models is that they are also less noisy.

An aircraft has a long life, but our strategy is to upgrade engines, furnishings etc. on an ongoing basis over the life of the aircraft. By replacing the furnishings in existing aircraft, for example, we’ve reduced the weight of the aircraft by several hundred kilos. So, we’re improving the efficiency of our aircraft and, at the same time, we’re making our passengers’ onboard experience more comfortable and more enjoyable.

In addition, SAS and Airbus have partnered up in a joint research project around electric aircraft, which could revolutionize aircraft emissions through increased use of electrification in future generations of aircraft.

SAS and Airbus in partnership to develop electric aircraft

SAS has been working on reducing the environmental impact of our flights for decades. In May 2019 we took a historic step by entering into a partnership with aircraft manufacturer Airbus in order to pave the way for the large-scale use of electric and hybrid technology in commercial aircraft.

SAS has been supporting a number of electric aircraft development projects for some time now. Most of these concepts aim, initially, to develop aircraft with a range of one to two hours and a capacity of 15-20 passengers. The aim of the research project with Airbus is to work together to gain insights around the opportunities and challenges associated with the large-scale introduction of hybrid and electric aircraft in commercial traffic. This could revolutionize the development of more sustainable commercial flights.

The development involves more than just the aircraft themselves. Electric aircraft will require a brand new infrastructure, including, for example, new solutions for energy supply and charging at airports. In order to guarantee access to electricity from renewable sources, the aim is also to involve one or more energy companies in the partnership. By investing in new technology for the next generation of aircraft, we are helping to drive the development towards more sustainable travel, which will have far less impact on our climate than is the case today.

Biofuel, paving the way for fossil-free travel

Using biofuel to power our aircraft is an effective way of reducing the climate-impacting emissions of existing aircraft. Here at SAS we currently use 100 tonnes of biofuel annually. In the context of our annual consumption, this is a small amount which we plan to dramatically increase, for example through a collaboration with our existing and future fuel suppliers. Two such examples are AirBP and Preem.

Biofuel has the same specifications as fossil fuel but emits around 80 percent less CO₂ than conventional aviation fuel. It can be blended with fossil-based aviation fuel and is perfect for powering the jet engines that we currently use. As things stand, a maximum of 50 percent biofuel can be blended with fossil fuel, and currently we are nowhere near this limit.

The disadvantage of biofuel is that far too little biofuel is being produced and it is 3-4 times more expensive. That’s why SAS is involved in a number of collaborations to promote the large-scale, commercial production of biofuel in Scandinavia. For example, SAS has signed a letter of intent with Preem, who plans to build a facility which has the capacity to produce several hundred thousand cubic meters of biofuel a year. This would mean that we could potentially have deliveries of locally produced biofuel on a large scale from 2023.

Most of the biofuel we use today comes from waste from food production, for example recycled cooking oil, but in the near future we hope to be able to use fuel manufactured from residues from the forestry industry.

Carbon offsetting of emissions that current technology can’t manage yet

SAS aims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 25 percent by 2025. By 2030, the aim is that correspondingly all SAS domestic flights within Scandinavia will be powered by biofuel. Since autumn 2019, we have removed the tax-free sales onboard to reduce weight and fuel consumption, which ultimately reduces emissions.

Carbon offsetting is just one of many environmental and sustainability initiatives within SAS, and comes into play after we’ve done everything we can to reduce our climate impact using current technology.

We’ve been carbon offsetting all flights our employees’ trips with SAS for a long time now. Since April 2018 we’ve been including carbon offsetting as an integral part of the approximately 1.5 million youth tickets that we sell annually. At the start of 2019 we took the next step: to carbon offset all tickets booked using a EuroBonus number. With around 6 million members, EuroBonus is the most popular loyalty program for travelers in Scandinavia.

This means that we now carbon offset just over 40 percent of all the passenger related CO₂ emissions that our planes emit.

Carbon offsetting is based on verified statistics, and the actual offsetting is done by First Climate, a well-known organization that specializes in working with companies to reduce and offset the emissions they generate in the best possible way. We are currently investing in a wind power project in China, as well as a project in India where hydro power are used to support electric supply.

Dry wash – good news for the environment

It’s important that we keep our aircraft clean, but not at the cost of the environment. That’s why we’ve introduced a new, more environmentally sustainable way of cleaning our aircraft fleet. This means that we can now clean an entire aircraft with just 60 liters of water.

One area where, since 2017, we’ve taken steps to increase our environmental sustainability is the cleaning of our aircraft. Keeping our aircraft shiny and clean isn’t just an aesthetic issue, it’s also a sustainability issue. A clean aircraft has less air resistance and therefore uses less fuel. One disadvantage of conventional aircraft washing is that it requires a large amount of water. It could take 13,000 liters of water to wash one A330. Clearly, this is not sustainable in the long term. That’s why we have started dry washing our aircraft. This involves applying a special cleaning material which we then wipe off using a special wet cloth. The material is 96 percent biodegradable and produces a surface that stays clean longer than with conventional washing methods.

Weight – every kilo matters

It’s actually quite simple. The fewer kilos we have to transport, the less fuel we consume. Here at SAS, we are working on a daily basis to find ways of reducing the onboard weight of our aircraft.

Here at SAS, we are working on reducing weight in many different ways. We’re investing in a new fleet that uses modern materials that weigh less. The new Airbus 320neo, for example, uses lighter materials in the carpeting on the floor, and the fabric on the seats is also lighter. By redesigning the seat trays, we can also save valuable kilos on every aircraft. Another small detail that makes a big difference is changing the USB sockets. This isn’t something that our passengers will notice, but we’ll see a difference on every aircraft, and when you add it up across our fleet it will make a big difference in terms of kilos. We’re also replacing the carpeting and seat fabric in our existing aircraft. Overall, these initiatives will enable us to reduce the weight of our aircraft fleet by just over 2.5 tonnes.

There is also potential to save weight in the hold. SAS Cargo has started using containers that are 20 percent lighter than the ones that were used before. This alone will enable us to reduce our emissions of CO₂ by more than 13,000 tonnes over a five-year period. As a passenger, you can also make a difference by not taking more baggage with you than you actually need.

SAS Group sustainability report 2019