Latam airline, the largest in Latin America, seeks to be carbon neutral by 2050

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Latam, Latin America’s largest airline, presented on Wednesday, May 5, the sustainability strategy with which it aims to offset 50% of domestic emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050.

The group announced that it would work on reducing its emissions by incorporating sustainable fuels and “new aviation technologies”, while in parallel it will “intervene in iconic ecosystems in South America such as the Amazon, the Chaco, the Orinoco Plains, and the Atlantic forest”, among others.

“Today, it is not enough to do what we have always done. As a group, we have the responsibility to go further in the search for collective solutions. We want to be an actor that promotes social, environmental, and economic development in the region,” said the company’s CEO, Roberto Alvo, at a press conference.

The company, born in 2012 from the merger between Chile’s Lan and Brazil’s Tam, also seeks to generate zero waste in landfills by 2027, for which “single-use plastics will be eliminated by 2023 and the onboard recycling program will be expanded on all domestic routes,” the group said.

It will also implement a uniform recycling program in all countries and “a plan to replace onboard materials with compostable, recyclable or certified items,” it said.

“We are facing a critical moment in the history of humanity, with a serious climate crisis and a pandemic that has changed our society,” he added.

The airline had suspended most of its international flights to and from Chile since the beginning of April, when the Andean country decreed a new border closure until June to contain the pandemic overwhelming hospitals.

The global economic uncertainty generated by Covid-19 and the travel restrictions imposed by several countries have decimated Latam, which ended 2020 with a 58.4% drop in revenue and a net loss of US$4.5 billion.

In May last year, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under U.S. bankruptcy law to restructure its financial liabilities and manage its fleet.

Before the health crisis, the airline operated nearly 1,400 daily flights to 145 destinations in 26 countries and had a fleet of 332 aircraft.