Sustainable Corporate Policies, A Competitive Advantage

Each pillar sets specific targets by 2020, including operating Europe’s most carbonefficient airlines and reducing the carbon intensity of operations by 10%, delivering 10 million greener and fairer holidays a year by 2020; investing €10 million each year by 2020 to support good causes, particularly through the channel of the TUI Care Foundation, and achieving an employment engagement score aligned with the top 25 global companies. In its Better Holidays, Better World 2016 report, TUI communicated its ongoing progress under each sustainability pillar. Among the company's notable outcomes in 2016 are: (1) realizing 6.3 million “greener and fairer holidays” in hotels that have achieved sustainability certifications (2) TUI airlines remaining up to 30% more carbon efficient than the global industry norm; and engaging 846,000 customers on sustainable excursions geared towards benefitting local communities. By setting these specific targets, TUI is triggering sustainable action on the ground among tourism suppliers worldwide. In 2016, TUI also reviewed their strategy against the framework of the SDGs, using the goals as a benchmark in assessing their activities. This exercise has resulted in several initiatives that traverse several SDGs, encompassing beach clean ups, water desalination at hotels in Spain and the Maldives, sustainable agriculture programmes in Greece, Spain and Turkey, and microalgae production in Bonaire Island, the Netherlands, as part of their sustainable aviation fuels strategy. Notably, TUI’s reporting is directly linked to SDG target 12.6, which is “to encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.” TUI’s commitment to sustainability has proven time and again that sustainability makes perfect business sense. The Group reported sales of €17.2 billion for the financial year 2015/16. Among Investor Indices, TUI was named the global industry sector leader by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and made it to the Climate A list of the Carbon Disclosure Project.