Climate action

Continue to invest in developing products that help decarbonise aviation

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Our objectives

  • Support and harness product innovation and quality, to help our customers achieve their commercial and environmental goals and find effective solutions to help them address climate change.

UN SDGs

001
The context

The UK Government has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, while still growing UK aviation. At present, the aviation sector is reported to contribute between 2-3% of the global CO2-related emissions, but this figure would grow significantly if aviation realises its growth potential. This will require improvements in aircraft and engine efficiency, improved flight management, the use of sustainable aviation fuels, and investment in innovative alternative energy solutions to address residual emissions. With our technological innovation, advanced processes and engineering excellence, we are now powering global development toward lower energy consumption, reduced material waste and higher performance.

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002
Collaboration

The major manufacturers in the aerospace sector will need to collaborate with all parts of the supply chain to accelerate the path to Net Zero. Manufacturers need to find a way to grow current production levels sustainably manner, while developing the aircraft of the future that will eliminate climate impact of aviation, which also includes in-flight nitrogen oxides and contrails. We will play a key influencing role in achieving these goals through a number of UK, EU and US bodies to ensure we can meet the plan for Net Zero, alongside the projected passenger growth. In addition, we will be aiming to decarbonise our own operations and those of the value chain.

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Working with our value chain

We are committed to playing our part in the global journey to Net Zero and will work with our value chain where relevant and beneficial, to encourage carbon-reduction initiatives, and will continue to inspire action in areas where we have most control. Within our value chain, there are opportunities both upstream and downstream to reduce emissions by collaborating on best practice and addressing common challenges. Our supply chain represents the second largest proportion of our emissions footprint after the use of products by our customers. We are developing plans with our major suppliers, which will expand to our broader supply base over time. As for downstream emissions, we aim to increase the share of decarbonisation-focused R&D, with 50% of total R&D spend focused on investment in climate-related programmes by 2025, 75% by 2030 and 100% by 2040, with the respective goals for the new products to release by the corresponding time horizons. 

Suppliers

We will work with our suppliers to ensure the highest standards of compliance, which will ultimately help us reduce our operational risks and foster long-term success. We have a diverse supply chain, both by geography and by nature of the components and materials we procure. In efforts to encourage climate action and influence best practice across our supply chain, we must accelerate the net zero transition for not only our suppliers, but also for their supply chains. We regularly monitor the financial strength of our suppliers to ensure that there is a healthy and resilient supply chain behind us.

Customers

Our customers have a critical role to play in shaping the future of flight, and we recognise our responsibility to support them with their own sustainability plans. To ensure we can set meaningful targets, we have to collect data on downstream emissions to understand the full scale of our Scope 3 emissions. We have started this work, which will help us develop a customer engagement and emissions-reduction plan, to enable activities that are currently outside of our control and influence. Our largest customers have set ambitious emissions-reduction targets. Product innovation is therefore central to helping them achieve their commercial goals in a sustainable way, reducing the impact of aircraft on the environment. With our technologies used throughout the aerospace industry, we aim to help our customers build and operate the most innovative, sustainable and affordable aircraft structures and engines.

Industry

Collaboration and investment must look beyond new technologies and products, and ensure that regulatory frameworks and economic policies enable the most environmentally sustainable solutions to also be economically viable. Therefore, we participate in major aerospace sustainability think tanks, councils, regulatory bodies and collaboration forums, to place us at the forefront of the latest aerospace breakthroughs in technology, R&D and sustainability. Our Sustainability Report sets out many examples of the way we engage with the industry both globally and in the countries where we operate.

Government and public sector

In addition to our membership of the Jet Zero Council, the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Aerospace Growth Partnership, we became a founding partner of the Hydrogen in Aviation (HIA), an alliance of leading companies in the UK aviation and renewable energy sectors. HIA works with Government, local authorities, and the aviation and hydrogen sectors to enable the UK to fulfil its potential as a global leader in this critical application of hydrogen technology. Other engagements with the Government and public sector include our position as the largest business within the Swedish civil aviation sector and the leading actor in developing technologies for sustainable aviation, playing a key role in industry associations such as Swedish Aerospace Industries and Swedish Air Transport Society and leading on various policy topics such as the roadmap to fossil-free aviation. We are also involved in continued collaboration projects in the Netherlands on enabling aviation’s path to Net Zero. 

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Management

Our sustainability function plays a key role in keeping the executive team informed, and they then ensure climate-related risks, opportunities and progress in addressing our material sustainability topics are considered within the Board’s agenda, governance framework, business strategy and where relevant, financial plans. The sustainability function identifies, implements and monitors a continuous evolution of improvements towards achieving our sustainability and climate targets.

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Skills and training

To achieve the strategic net zero ambition, we need to ensure our workforce is on board and with the requisite knowledge base, awareness and value foundations. We have a pipeline of sustainability and climate training and knowledge for every function. Information on reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions through energy and other environmental efficiencies is in place at sites, while educational papers on saving energy and reducing emissions at home and in travel are available to all employees. This helps ensure our employees can make sustainable choices. Through our Skills Fund, we continued to invest in the capabilities required to build the UK's industrial base, as well as supporting apprenticeships and graduate programmes, and continuing to invest in STEM programmes, manufacturing hubs, digital skills and employee development, helping foster the future skills needed to grow the aerospace skillset in a sustainable and diverse way. 

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03 Prioritise health and safety, promote diversity and nurture the wellbeing and skills development of employees, and support the communities that they are part of