Lufthansa is raising ticket prices for flyers because of climate change - Quartz
Lufthansa is raising ticket prices for flyers because of climate change
As climate change increases pressure on the airline industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some of the costs of doing so are being passed on to consumers. German airline Lufthansa announced Tuesday that it would begin charging an “environmental cost surcharge” to help cover the cost of complying with European clean-air regulations.
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“The Lufthansa Group invests billions in new technologies every year and works together with partners on innovations that help to make flying more sustainable step by step and drive the scaling of key technologies beyond the Lufthansa Group,” the airline said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “In addition, the Lufthansa Group has actively supported global climate and weather research for many years. However, the airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own.”
The surcharge will be used to help pay for cleaner-burning jet fuel and participation in carbon-offset schemes. Tickets will go up in price by as much as €72 ($77) for flights departing the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland beginning Jan. 1, 2025.
Earlier this month, International Air Transport Association head Willie Walsh told attendees of the group’s annual meeting that complying with climate change regulations will make flying more expensive as governments seek to reduce the industry’s contribution to increasing global temperatures. Aviation is responsible for 1 in every 30 to 50 tons of carbon released into the atmosphere every year.
“I’m sorry to say but the transition to net zero will require customers to pay,” he said, adding that “the costs can’t be borne by the industry given the wafer thin margins we have.”
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”