Finnish national carrier Finnair has incorporated employee-suggested 100 sustainability initiatives as a part of its 100 years celebration and to achieve its target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.

As part of its centenary celebrations, Finland’s flag carrier Finnair has announced that during the past 12 months it has started more than 100 employee-driven sustainability projects.

According to a press statement by the Finnish airline, achieving carbon neutral flying by 2045 remains its foremost sustainability goal. From recycling Finnair cabin and ground crew uniforms to the airline’s first voluntary purchase of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, these new initiatives were all put forth by Finnair employees.

The statement adds that these diverse efforts represent important steps towards the Finnish flag carrier’s commitment to carbon-neutral flying by 2045 and supporting a circular economy. 

It says that in March 2024 Finnair also submitted its emissions reduction intensity targets for validation by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to align its targets in line with the Paris Agreement. 

“In a special initiative during our centenary year, we invited our employees to help us shape a more eco-conscious future. The response was truly inspiring, with the Finnair team proposing over 250 inventive and thoughtful sustainability ideas. From these, we carefully selected around 100 bigger and smaller initiatives that aligned best with our environmental and social sustainability goals. We firmly believe each one of these actions underscores our dedication to paving the way for the next hundred years of aviation,” says Eveliina Huurre, Finnair SVP Sustainability.

The statement adds that reducing the amount of single-use plastics and cardboard cups in the airline’s offices and on flights was one of the suggestions made by staff members. In response, Finnair replaced cardboard cups with previously used Finnair Business Class chinaware in its offices and improved its processes for single-use cup usage on board.

Installing solar panels on Finnair facilities’ roofs is another noteworthy employee-driven project. In order to complement the 1,200 solar panels that were already there, Finnair Cargo successfully installed 1,790 more at the top of its COOL terminal. These panels now generate enough energy at peak capacity to fully power the cargo facility and supply excess energy to other Finnair buildings, the statement says.

It adds the centenary drive also encompassed energy-saving initiatives, such as implementing LED bulbs in facilities and installing innovative hatches to prevent unnecessary opening of hangar doors during the cold winter months.

Some of the most creative sustainability ideas were around digital practices. Finnair introduced green coding, a more sustainable computing approach designed to reduce the energy consumed in processing lines of code, the statement says.

Meanwhile, Finnair collaborated with its cloud service provider AWS to explore effective strategies for developing its digital services sustainably. The company’s modern data centres in Europe are designed for energy efficiency and renewable energy use.