Cebu Pacific taps South Pole to establish climate strategy

Photo: Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ leading airline, is partnering with South Pole to establish its climate strategy that will further strengthen Cebu Pacific’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

South Pole is a leading climate company that develops projects and solutions needed to enable people across the world to make an impact on climate change.

In 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization adopted a long-term global aspirational goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

A year earlier, the International Air Transport Association declared its “Fly Net Zero” commitment to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.

“Cebu Pacific supports global aviation’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Mike Szucs, CEO of Cebu Pacific. “With South Pole’s guidance and expertise, we will develop a robust plan of action to prioritize interventions for emission hotspots in our operations. This roadmap will consider and fuse together the tangible initiatives that we have already put in place, as well as plans that will contribute towards our aspirations of meeting aviation’s net-zero commitment.”

The engagement with South Pole involves Cebu Pacific going through the rigorous process of understanding the greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions generated from its operations towards setting its near-term and long-term emission-reduction pathways.

This roadmap will build into the airline’s current decarbonization strategy, which includes its fleet-modernization program, fuel-efficiency measures, successful integration of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into its operations, transition to electric vehicles, and tapping renewable energy, among others.

“Cebu Pacific has been monitoring and reporting its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions since 2018,” said Alex Reyes, Cebu Pacific’s chief strategy officer who also leads sustainability for the airline. “But as with other companies, scope 3 emissions are a blind spot for Cebu Pacific, and we recognize the complexities in accounting for these emissions. To set a credible emissions-reduction pathway, it is essential to have a comprehensive validation of our material emissions. Hence, we are tapping into South Pole’s climate expertise in this area.”

South Pole will support Cebu Pacific in scoping its activities to identify the relevant scope 3 emissions from its entire upstream and downstream value chain.

“To drive a sustainable long-term recovery in the aviation industry, we must continue to facilitate global climate action to achieve net zero by 2050, and Cebu Pacific is in a great position to lead this change,” said Shruti Singh, South Pole’s director of climate strategies for the Asia-Pacific region. “By placing climate at the center of its strategy, we are confident that Cebu Pacific will make great strides in its climate journey, and we are proud to support the company in achieving its sustainability goals.”

Cebu Pacific’s climate-strategy roadmap, which will be developed under the engagement, ensures that its emissions-reduction pathway is aligned with climate science and with the global-temperature targets under the Paris Agreement.

The aviation industry, which, according to IATA, is responsible for 2 percent to 3 percent of global emissions, has a crucial role to play in this transition, and Cebu Pacific said the airline is committed to playing its part in this global transition.