مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Environmental protection has become a prominent issue in recent years. Many global campaigns for the environment have been introduced successively to require the participation of countries and corporations in environmental protection efforts. Examples include the 1987 Montreal Protocol to prevent the continued destruction of the ozone layer and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) arising from human activities. Various stakeholders are also showing an increasing interest in whether multinational corporations pay attention to environmental protection (Andersen and Skjoett-Larsen, 2009). One example is the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an organization in the UK, which invites large international corporations to disclose their annual carbon dioxide emissions and environment risk management property and measures these companies’ environmental information and reveal this information as reference for investment considerations (CDP, 2014). Increasing numbers of companies, particularly large multinational corporations, are aware of the importance of being environmentally friendly in regards to their business operations. These companies not only practice environmental protection activities but also present their efforts in their environmental annual reports. These companies’ demonstrations to their clients that they minimize and mitigate their environmental impact may provide benefits of competitive advantage over their competitors (Miyoshi and Mason, 2009).

The environmental impacts generated by airlines are comprehensive and increasingly severe. During take-off, landing and taxiing at airports, the aircraft noise and exhaust fumes cause disturbances to local residents and the natural environment (Upham et al., 2003). During flight, pollutants inject into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere result in a higher level of global warming (Lu, 2009). Due to ground operations, airlines consume natural resources and generate waste. As a result, airlines are considered an important industry that needs to reduce its adverse effects on the environment (Chen, 2013). For example, the European Union included airlines in its emission trading scheme from 2012 (Anger, 2010; Derigs and Illing, 2013); the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has resolved to implement global market-based measures before 2020 (ICAO, 2013), while the International Air Transport Association (IATA) encourages its member airlines to establish environmental management systems(IATA, 2014).

When airlines conduct environment protection, in addition to complying with local and international norms, they are able to reduce costs, enhance business performance, and also establish a good image by emphasizing corporate social responsibility (CSR), thereby garnering greater consumer support. The aforementioned benefits have induced increasingly more airlines to implement various environmental protection activities, such as saving fuel, adopting the ISO14001 environmental management system, and using the ISO14064-1 for their annual inventories of GHG emissions. Additionally, environment-friendly airlines can build a greener image with respect to their competitors and other forms of transport and thus attract and retain customers in the future (Rosskopf et al., 2014).