Launch of the BWPA sustainability strategy
Aviation brings many benefits; however, it also has a significant impact on environmental sustainability, and mitigating these impacts has quickly become one of the most significant challenges for the industry in its just over 100-year history. The BWPA’s role is to support women in aviation to support access to a sector that provides economic and connectivity benefits, as well as significant joy. As the visibility and understanding of the impact of aviation on the environment increases, we feel it is important for the BWPA to consider its role in this context.
The BWPA committee has developed a sustainability strategy to guide how the BWPA will act to play our part in promoting not only the transition to a more sustainable industry, but also to promote and celebrate women’s role in this exciting, evolving future.
Our strategy sets out that we will:
- Acknowledge that aviation has environmental impacts but raise awareness of and embrace the positive changes that are happening across the industry to address these impacts.
- Prioritise partnerships with organisations who value and prioritise environmental sustainability.
- Consider environmental sustainability in our own operations and demonstrate positive action to being a more sustainable organisation.
- Promote and celebrate the value and role of women in the changing future.
- Be considered and have credibility in where we take action as an organisation, endeavouring to thoughtfully contemplate the steps we take to ensure they genuinely make a difference to improving environmental sustainability.
Some of the ways we have already implemented our strategy include:
- On 5 June we are holding an event in collaboration with the CAA’s Sustainability Team to visit the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) Airborne Laboratory, a world-class research facility dedicated to the advancement of atmospheric science.
- Moving our website and emails to green hosting. This is powered by renewable energy, is designed to be energy efficient, and trees are planted each month on our behalf.
- Reducing production of single-use printed materials such as postcards and business cards, and moving to digital promotional materials.
- Cutting down the number of in-person committee meetings, to just two a year, with the others being held online.
- Changing from a printed membership card to a digital card.
Our future plans include:
- Organising events for BWPA members that have a focus on environmental sustainability, including visits to places of interest and talks from industry experts
- Promoting our members who are working and acting in the sustainability space.
- Offering scholarships that support women to pursue more sustainable forms of flying.
- Seeking opportunities with partners who also value environmental sustainability.
This will be an evolution rather than a revolution in how the BWPA is run, but we believe it is an important shift in thinking and acting. We look forward to the opportunities this brings for BWPA members.
