ESG

Environmental, Social & Governance

In 2022, WFS launched ‘Our Sustainable Flight Path’ to steer the next level of our strategy and support the responsible growth of our global airport and aviation services operations.

This roadmap has been created to coordinate, build upon, and accelerate the numerous sustainability projects across our network.

‘Our Sustainable Flight Path’ provides us with an environmental, social and governance strategy which looks after our people, our customers, and our planet, and is true to the WFS core values. This approach leverages our strengths in core ESG areas such as safety, security, compliance and ethics, whilst addressing the existential challenges facing aviation today.

This strategy is driven by a dedicated committee of leaders from all areas of the business and its goals are based on four key pillars:

  • Global air cargo logistics leader.Ensuring that we remain focussed on our fundamentals of best-in-class ethics, compliance and safety and security standards
  • Preferred employer. Our people are our most valuable asset and we recognise the importance of attracting and retaining talent across our global operations
  • Decarbonisation ally.We must play a leadership role in aviation achieving “net zero” and continue on our path towards a low-carbon future
  • Community partner. We partner with external stakeholders to build a stronger sustainable ecosystem

 

Our ESG committee is supported by various teams across the network who are working on local implementation of key topics such as the drive towards electric Ground Support Equipment and renewable electricity provision.

Our investment in sustainability and digital transformation, the processes we have in place and our passionate and proactive people, have enabled us to succeed despite the changing business landscape.

Below are some examples from our subsidiaries in North America, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

Suvarnabhumi Airport Cleaning Day

Initiated by Bangkok Flight Services (BFS), ‘Suvarnabhumi Airport Cleaning Day’ is organised each year to raise environmental awareness for the surroundings of the airport.

The event has been organised for the last seven years, and more than 10 private and public organisations based at Suvarnabhumi Airport now take part. The day helps strengthen the relationship between aviation partners while raising awareness for the community in which these companies operate in.

‘Suvarnabhumi Airport Cleaning Day’ is now recognised as one of BFS’ key annual social activities as it brings together colleagues who are committed to creating a better and more welcoming airport.

Converting to biodegradable plastic wrapping

By converting to BioNatur Plastic™ biodegradable stretch wrap for cargo handling in North America, we reduced landfill by the equivalent of 68 million plastic bottles in just 12 months.

This new sustainable stretch wrap biodegrades significantly quicker than regular plastic. It contains 1% organic, food-safe propriety additive that allows anaerobic bacteria to digest the plastic in a landfill. Outside of a landfill the plastic has an indefinite shelf life and performs exactly like traditional
plastic products.

We plan to implement a similar product for our cargo stations in EMEAA in 2022.

Read full article

Hong Kong’s Green Power Hike

WFS Hong Kong has participated in the Green Power Hike since 2016.

The event is an annual fund-raising event first held in 1994, intended to inspire people to better appreciate the natural environment. Each year the event provides its 3,000 participants with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the ecology of Hong Kong and support local environmental initiatives.

WFS Hong Kong takes part in the Aviation and Airport Services Cup of the hike, which sees teams from the aviation and services sector race against each other. Each team, comprised of three to four members, has the choice between a 10km, 25km or 50km route and makes a monetary donation. All proceeds from the race are used to fund environmental education in schools and local communities.

LED Lighting

At WFS a significant proportion of our CO2 emissions profile comes from energy consumption, predominantly electricity supply and fuel for vehicles.

We are addressing this across our business through a strategy of reducing consumption, moving away from fossil fuel powered vehicles, and switching to renewable electricity supply.

For examples, we have switched to LED lighting across most of the warehouses where we have responsibility for lighting infrastructure, and we have made significant progress in switching to electric forklift trucks in our cargo facilities.

Almost all of our operations in France, Germany and Spain are now supplied with 100% renewable electricity and we continue to seek out more opportunities in this area, including generating our own solar energy where feasible.

The net effect of these changes has been a reduction in our CO2 profile and we aim to continue this journey as part of “Our Sustainable Flight Path” in years to come.

Testimonial

"WFS has a great responsibility to help ensure the safety, security and success of our customers’ operations. Our commitment to delivering best-in-class service is underpinned by the knowledge and expertise within our strong aviation service platform and the professionalism of our people. This is continuously supported by investments in market-leading technology, so we can strengthen our position and grow together in a sustainable way with our customers.”

John Batten / CEO - EMEAA