Cathay’s ‘1 Ticket, 1 Tree’ returns for fourth year, expands to include cargo contributions

From 25 to 31 July 2024, Cathay will plant one mangrove tree in Southeast Asia for every flight ticket purchased from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia during this period. The airline will take into account tickets purchased on Cathay website or mobile app, as well as those booked by corporate clients through Cathay's agents.

Since its launch in 2021, '1 Ticket, 1 Tree' has gained momentum in Southeast Asia, resulting in the planting of 30,000 mangrove trees. The initiative has seen collaboration from 13 partners including corporations, non-profit organisations, and local environment and community groups, who have joined Cathay in its efforts to educate communities, plant trees, and ensure the trees' sustainable growth.

Expanding '1 Ticket, 1 Tree' to Cathay Cargo

This year, in addition to flight tickets purchased, Cathay is broadening its tree-planting initiative to include cargo shipments across the region. It is proudly introducing '1 Tonne, 1 Tree', where it pledges to plant a mangrove tree for every tonne of cargo booked by Cathay Cargo's agents and shippers in Southeast Asia from 25 to 31 July 2024.

This expansion underscores Cathay's determination to foster strong partnerships and collective action to build a more sustainable future.

Cathay Regional General Manager for Southeast Asia Dominic Perret said: "Given the vital role of mangrove forests in supporting local communities and protecting their livelihoods, doing our part to ensure they grow and thrive deeply resonates with us. We are therefore very encouraged by the strong support '1 Ticket, 1 Tree' has received across Southeast Asia since we started this initiative four years ago – more and more partners are coming on board, and having our cargo agents involved this year is another step towards amplifying our collective efforts."

Cathay Regional Head of Cargo for Southeast Asia Ashish Kapur said: "We are very excited to have our cargo agents and shippers join us in our tree-planting efforts this year. Our goal is to increase awareness of the crucial role our mangrove forests play in our ecosystem, and to make it easy for anyone to participate and make a meaningful impact on our local communities in the region. We have been speaking to our cargo partners on the ground and the response from them has been overwhelmingly positive."

Greener Together: Cathay's commitment to sustainability leadership

As one of the first airlines in Asia to set a target of 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for its total fuel consumption by 2030, Cathay fully recognises the challenges in transitioning to more sustainable energy in aviation. To address this, Cathay embraces a collaborative ethos, Greener Together, urging all stakeholders to unite in this important pursuit. Beyond SAF, Cathay has also made important strides towards its 2050 carbon neutrality goal in other aspects of decarbonisation.

Taking the lead in aviation's sustainability efforts in Asia, Cathay announced the extension of Fly Greener, its carbon-offset programme, to its air cargo services in 2022. Customers can use an integrated carbon emissions calculator to work out the carbon emissions of shipments and the cost to offset them. They can then make a contribution to purchase carbon offsets that come from carefully selected carbon-offset projects.

Full details of Cathay's performance and commitments in sustainable development are available in its 2023 Sustainability Report, available here. Key highlights include committing to near-term climate improvements, accelerating the use of SAF, and moving towards more sustainable use of resources.