This is the reward for months of effort to make all business processes as sustainable as possible throughout the entire CHI Group. And this is just the beginning, because the sustainability journey continues, announces Head of Business Development, Dominik Mißkampf. After all, while the process progressed, some potentials for improvement were detected. So, some work still remains to be done, reasons the executive.
Open end program
The BlueSky Program assesses, verifies, and validates the sustainability performance of air cargo companies. In important categories, such as efficiency, CHI has achieved advanced ratings, the
company reveals in a release.
It is a permanent program hence completion is pretty much open end, the company emphasizes. That is why CHI Group only speaks of an interim result produced by the TIACA BlueSky initiative. The
sustainability journey must go on; in two years, CHI will present its progress in other fields, Mißkampf announced.
Key improvements
One of the first congratulators was Glyn Hughes, Director General at TIACA: “As one of the initial partners of the BlueSky Program, I would like to congratulate CHI for achieving a strong
result, demonstrating its in-depth focus on sustainability. CHI has proven that all addressed areas of the assessment, e.g., environment, society as well as culture and leadership, are already
being pushed and that several measures have already been successfully implemented.”
Furthermore, CHI has completed significant milestones in sustainability in recent years. A comprehensive list includes initiatives such as 100% forklift fleet electrification, reprocessing wooden
air cargo pallets, installing air purification filters in all warehouses, and collaborating with universities and associations for inclusion.
Mentality change
In addition to the numerous practical improvements in sustainability issues and carbon footprint reductions, the program has had a strong motivational effect on employees. “Even beyond the
dashboard’s specifications, our employees want to contribute and share their ideas for a more sustainable future of CHI,” Mr. Mißkampf observed. “The day-to-day focus on sustainable
practices has been very consciousness-raising. Something has developed in many minds in this regard,” Janina Meininger hints at collective experiences. She is project manager of the BlueSky
Program at CHI.
Improved togetherness
Not only has the program boosted motivation, but it has also fostered team spirit which follows the motto: Everyone pulls together and in the same direction. The team has recognized that
sustainable goals can only be achieved together, and secondly, people are proud of their successes and identify with their professional tasks.
The initiative, launched by TIACA in Miami in MAY22, was pioneered by ten cargo companies that include Etihad Cargo, Brussels Airport Cargo, and handling agent, Swissport, to name but three. In
addition to the initial ten, another six have commenced the process and TIACA is discussing with a further 40 others who are assessing their readiness to proceed, states Glyn Hughes: “The
questionnaire is very comprehensive and provides an excellent all round personalized dashboard. Nearly half of the original launch participants have completed their assessment and have recently
received their dashboards. We then leave it to each organization to determine how they use their results. Some have chosen to publish highlights.”
As did CHI and Etihad. The Arabian carrier recently issued a release as the BlueSky assessment scored them extremely highly for their decarbonization efforts: https://www.stattimes.com/air-cargo/etihad-cargo-gets-advanced-rating-from-tiaca-for-decarbonisation-moves-1348674
However, the only mid-sized actor among the big boys, was Germany-based CHI, that employs a headcount of roughly one thousand, and runs stations at Frankfurt Airport, Munich, Hamburg, and
Nuremberg.
Well-spent money
In jumping on the TIACA bandwagon, the company had to invest several thousand euros. It is well-spent money, TIACA’s Glyn Hughes confirms: “One aspect of common feedback we have received is
how valuable the exercise has been in helping organizations determine which areas within their organization could benefit from additional focus. This is the most important outcome of the BlueSky
program, as sustainability is about an ongoing journey to improve how individual organizations and collectively the industry addresses Social, Economic, Corporate and Environmental
Sustainability.”
But spending on the BlueSky program also makes sense from a business perspective, CHI's management emphasizes. Mainly because in the future, ESG reporting will not only be mandatory for stock
corporations when presenting their annual results, but also mid-sized companies will probably have to report annually on their contributions to improved sustainable developments in environmental,
social, and governance schemes. For banks and financial institutions, ESG reporting could be a criterion for a company's credit rating. Such aspects are also likely to play an increasingly
important role in tenders, Dominik Mißkampf draws a more holistic picture.
Based on the ESG requirements and the results of the BlueSky assessment, CHI will derive a sustainability roadmap to be prepared for a sustainable future.
Heiner Siegmund
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