Airbus

Airbus SE
Quick Facts
Type	Public
sector	Aerospace
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Leiden, Netherlands
Year of Origin	1970
Emissions (All Scopes)	44,185 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
Net Income	USD$1.17 billion (2020)
Key People	René Obermann (Chairman), Guillaume Faury (CEO), Cominik Asam (CFO)
Subsidiaries	Airbus Group, Inc. Airbus Corporate Jets Airbus Helicopters, Inc. Airbus ProSky Airbus UK ArianeGroup Dornier Consulting Helibras Premium AEROTEC Stelia Aerospace Testia VoltAir

Airbus SE, stylized as Airbus, is divided into three divisions: Commercial Aircraft (Airbus S.A.S.), Defence and Space and Helicopters. It was founded on December, 18 1970 as Airbus Industrie GIE, in 2000 European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (AEDS) NV was established. The company designs, manufactures aircrafts and has flown over 110 million flights with its total fleet. In 2019 Airbus became the world’s largest airliner manufacturer.

Company Structure

Board of Directors

The members of the Board of Directors of Airbus is responsible for the management of the company and consists of 12 people with René Obermann as chairman and Guillaume Faury as CEO. Furthermore the members are Victor Chu, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., Lord Paul Drayson, Mark Dunkerley, Stephan Gemkow, Catherine Guillouard, Amparo Moraleda, Claudia Nemat, and Carlos Tavares.

Accountant

The Audit Committee makes recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the annual financial statements and the quarterly and half-year accounts. It consists of Catherine Guillouard, Victor Chu, Mark Dunkerley, and Stephan Gemkow. The Dutch accountant of Airbus has been KPMG and currently is EY.

Operations

The companies biggest divisions in regards to external revenue split are Airbus (67%), Airbus Defence and Space (21%), and Airbus Helicopters (12%). Airbus has not received NOW (Noodmaatregel Overbrugging Werkgelegenheid) from the Dutch government. The company’s headquarters are located in Leiden, but it’s head office is in Toulouse, France.

Paris Agreement to Today

In 2016 Airbus and Boeing aircraft were responsible for over 90% of global aviation emissions. The European manufacturer however argues that they cannot accept a stringent efficiency standard as it would damage the company. This low level of ambition could result in up to 400 Megatonnes of avoidable CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2040. CO₂ emissions from aircrafts, other than those of eg cars, were not regulated. Only in 2009 the United Nations (UN) agency regulating aviation, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), finally agreed to developing such a standard. The European Union (EU) was supposed to be a key player in these negotiations, pushing to speed up the emissions cuts, but instead they worked closely with Airbus to ensure the new rules would have no impact. Later on, emails were released that showcased this collaboration, it showed that Airbus was allowed to determine the EU’s final negotiating position on the stringency of the standard. The deadline for the EU’s negotiating position was December 7th 2015, Airbus received a draft of the paper in advance whereas environmental NGOs were not given this opportunity. Airbus eventually stated that “Yes, we can live with this”, regarding a paper containing an extremely weak negotiating position. Later in January The Guardian published that “Europe lags behind US in new plans to tackle CO₂ emissions from planes”. In February 2016 an agreement was reached and this standard will most likely do nothing to cut aircraft emissions.

Current Policies and Emissions

During the pandemic, Airbus’ CO₂ emissions decreased about 20%, and they purchased 21% less water in Europe. It is unsure how this will continue to be now that there's less travel bans and aviation is starting to grow again. A good thing is that Airbus has outlined the environmental impact of their products, this under pressure from investors and climate change activists. In 2019, 863 jets were delivered with estimated lifetime emissions of 740 million tons of CO₂ with an average lifespan of 22 years per plane. In 2020, 566 aircrafts were delivered with an estimated lifetime emissions of 440 million tons. They did however not provide data regarding non-CO₂ emissions, which might be as least as much of a threat as CO₂. They did report emissions from their factories.

Climate Plans

Airbus states that aviation represents between 2-3% of global CO₂ emissions and commits to net zero CO₂ by 2050. They not only want to reduce CO₂ emissions of their aircrafts but also those of their industrial environment footprint at sites worldwide and throughout their supply chain. They are looking to bring a zero-emission commercial aircraft on the market by 2035 through electric flight. They have published three concepts for a zero-emissions airplane this far. There are some technological challenges regarding these new hydrogen jets due to difficulties concerning the storage of the hydrogen. Other than these challenges there are also the sorts of having to convince other airlines to upgrade their fleets, retraining pilots and airport redesign. Airbus also states that they are the first planemaker that is going to tackle emissions coming from customers using their products (Scope 3). Airbus’ aim is to consume 20% less energy and emit 40% less CO₂ by 2030 in comparison with 2015. In 2030 Airbus hopes to achieve certification for 100% Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its fleet. Furthermore Airbus is committed to 8 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that are directly relevant to its business

Conclusion

Airbus is taking the lead in opening up about the environmental impact of their products, finally laying more focus on Scope 3 emissions. If successful, their electric aircrafts could be a step towards their net-zero target. However, it appears there are quite a few hurdles to overcome regarding these advances in technology and in the past Airbus has proven to keep its ambitions regarding the process of lowering CO₂ emissions low.

Bedrijfsspecifieke Passage in 'de brief'

U heeft uw duurzaamheidsbeleid vastgelegd in Annual Report 2020.

Wij constateren dat uw ambitie is om in 2050 net-zero CO₂ uitstoot te hebben, dit doel is niet in lijn met het anderhalve graden scenario omdat een duidelijke pad met tussendoelen daartoe ontbreekt. Uw ambitie beoogt u te realiseren door onzekere innovaties met betrekking tot elektrisch vliegen en het naleven van niet stringente regulatie.

In uw plannen blijkt niet goed dat u uw ambities gaat realiseren. Dat is een grote tekortkoming en dat maakt de ambitie niet geloofwaardig.

Daarmee draagt uw bedrijf bij aan gevaarlijke klimaatverandering en loopt u het materiële risico om mensenrechtenschendingen te veroorzaken.