In total, the UN established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015 to achieve a better world by 2030 aimed at eradicating poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring peace and prosperity for all people. Lufthansa Cargo today (24NOV20) announced its commitment to 5 of these goals in particular and will be aligning its activities accordingly.
Those 5 Agenda 2030 goals are numbers 1 – No Poverty, 3 – Good Health & Wellbeing, 8 – Decent Work & Economic Growth, 9 – Industries, Innovation & Infrastructure, and,
perhaps most particularly relevant for a cargo airline and expected by the public: 13 – Climate Action. Lufthansa Cargo also supports the other 12 goals, but these 5 will have concrete
actions and will be incorporated in the company’s activities and decisions. Lufthansa Cargo will make “substantial contributions” towards achieving the chosen goals, the press statement
informs, and not just through its employees, but also in cooperation with its partners and customers. Peter Gerber, Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo AG, declares "Lufthansa
Cargo actively supports the sustainability goals of the United Nations. We take our corporate responsibility very seriously and have set ourselves the goal of bundling our wide-ranging social
activities in the future in five areas that are particularly closely related to the business activities of Lufthansa Cargo. This will make our past and future commitment even more
comprehensible."
No Poverty
“The fight against poverty is one of the highest goals of the global community. This is a challenge that can only be met by sustainably improving living conditions and future prospects.
Lufthansa Cargo opens up access to the world market for all regions and thus makes a very concrete contribution to local economic development, especially in emerging and developing
countries.” Lufthansa Cargo’s supports Cargo Human Care since years, with very tangible results already to show for this goal, and hopefully in future, too.
Good Health and Wellbeing
“Health is a valuable commodity,” the Lufthansa Cargo press release reads, and goes on to underline its goal of “promoting a healthy life and the well-being of people by ensuring the
worldwide supply of sensitive medical goods - especially in times of crisis. Through extensive investments in pharmaceutical hubs and close partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, the
company is continuously expanding its expertise in the fight to preserve health and wellbeing.” Interestingly, what is not mentioned, is what the company is doing for the health and
wellbeing of its own employees, who are the key to the application of all these goals being a success.
Decent Work and Economic Growth
“Lufthansa Cargo stands for sustained and broad-based economic growth, thus enabling productive and decent work. The company's history shows that Lufthansa Cargo has always planned and acted for
the long term in a volatile market. Phases of high turnover have always been used to make wise investments that paid off in times of crisis. Instead of short-term profit-taking, solid growth is
the declared and provable goal of the company.” The UN definition of this goal includes promoting “creativity and innovation, and encouraging the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and
medium-sized enterprises.” It will be interesting to see if other initiatives similar to heyworld for example are in the making over the next 10 years.
Industries, Innovation, and Infrastructure
“Lufthansa Cargo is committed to sustainable industrialization, supports innovation, and is involved in building a crisis-resistant infrastructure.” More is not elaborated in the release
however “crisis-resistance” is surely being created this year already, which has forced many a company into flexibility and change.
Climate Action
The one UN goal that is on everyone’s lips with it comes to aviation, and where the pressure is on to perform. “Lufthansa Cargo is committed to protecting the environment with measures to
mitigate climate change and its effects. Massive investments in new aircraft and lighter equipment as well as participation in CORSIA result in a win-win situation - for the environment and for
Lufthansa Cargo: efficiency is increased on the one hand and fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are reduced on the other.” CFG knows that there is more to come on this point soon and is
looking forward to sharing the details with its readers in the near future…
Much has been done and much more is to come
Summing up the 5-SDG focus initiative, Peter Gerber says "We are proud to have made our contribution to countless large and small projects over the past decades. This has resulted in
initiatives such as "Cargo Human Care", "Cargo Social Care", "Cargo Crisis Care" and "Cargo Climate Care", which underpin and demonstrate our commitment to corporate responsibility: Sustainable
commitment is part of us and part of our DNA, but we want to continue to make a difference in the future and look for new solutions to develop our industry in a sustainable and environmentally
friendly way. We also want to tackle where help is needed to promote equal opportunities."
Art speaks louder than words
Over at Lufthansa Cargo’s Frankfurt Airport grounds, one of Germany’s contemporary artists, 22-year old Leon Löwentraut, has constructed “The Global Gate” – a 24m-wide and 20m-high piece of art
modelled on the Germany’s well-known Brandenburger Tor in Berlin. It is said to be “the largest mobile work of art in the world” and symbolizes the UN's Agenda 2030 vision of a better world,
economically, ecologically, and socially once everyone contributes to the 17 SDGs.
Brigitte Gledhill
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