Emirates is to start trialling an electric bus in its latest sustainability drive, it has announced for World Environment Day.
The airline runs a number of initiatives as part of its Only One Earth theme, with an in-house team of sustainability experts that give their input from an early stage.
For Sunday’s World Environment Day it has highlighted its environmental strategy which focuses on three areas – reducing emissions, consuming responsibly and preserving wildlife and habitats.
Its latest move is to trial an electric bus for six months starting from this week. It will ferry passengers from remote stations and can run up to 100km on a single charge. These trips will be completely carbon-free and operate on an intelligent energy-saving system.
Some of Emirates’ most impactful actions have been to replace plastic straws and stirrers with responsibly-sourced paper and wooden alternatives. Emirates also makes sustainable blankets for economy class using 28 recycled plastic bottles each.
By the end of this year, the airline says it will have saved 150 million single-use plastic items from landfill from these initiatives.
Amenity kits for economy class were also introduced this year, made from washable kraft paper and containing durable travel essentials made from environmentally-friendly materials.
The packaging used for the dental kit, socks and eyeshades are made from 90 per cent rice paper, while the toothbrush is made from a combination of wheat straw and plastic.
“Emirates looks at every product on board with the view to reducing resource consumption wherever possible. It works with a wide range of suppliers, sourcing locally or regionally where feasible, to minimise the environmental impact of its supply chain,” it said in a statement.
Economy class paper menus were replaced in April 2020 with digital menus, which saves 44 tonnes of paper per month reducing paper consumption and also supports Emirates’ overall efforts to remove excess weight and to save fuel and emissions.
For its aircraft, Emirates has an ongoing focus to operate its fleet in the most efficient, responsible way possible, cutting fuel consumption. It also has partnerships with air navigation service providers which have been key to implementing fuel‑ and time‑saving routes.
Other sustainability initiatives it has rolled out include investing in solar power systems to generate clean electricity at its major facilities in Dubai, and most recently, the Emirates Sevens Stadium.
These installations produce savings of over 4 million kilogrammes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
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