Green Performance

Environmental protection is our important cornerstone for corporate sustainable development that we continue to create green performance. For more information on environmental performance, refer to Appendix Environmental Performance.

Achievements in Environmental Sustainability

CAL continued to focus on the following tasks: improving environmental and energy management, strengthening carbon management, building capacity for supply chain environmental management, and promoting environmental awareness. Through Corporate Environmental Committee and its five environmental management committees and functional task forces, CAL continues to improve and enhance environmental performance and ecological efficiency.

01

Perfecting Environmental and Energy Management Operation

Energy Management Water Resource Management Air Pollution Prevention Noise Control Wastewater Management Waste Management

02

Consolidating Climate Risk Management and Carbon Reduction

Key Achievement : Concern for Climate Change

03

Building Capacity for Value Chain Environmental Management

Key achievements : Building Capacity for Value Chain Environmental Management

04

Strengthening Awareness and Brand Image of Corporate Environmental Protection

Key achievements : "CAL ECO Path" for corporate headquarters environmental actions
Key achievements : CAL participated in SkyTeam “The Sustainable Flight Challenge, TSFC”.

Greenhouse Gas

In accordance with the guidelines of ISO/CNS 14064-1 and the Greenhouse Gases Protocol, CAL conducts annual surveys for international aviation fuel and greenhouse emissions of all ground operations to monitor the overall greenhouse gas emission conditions. Starting from 2015, CAL calculated the emissions from the products purchased, capital goods, fuel and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or 2, upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, waste treatment, employee commuting, upstream and downstream leased assets, and investments based on 15 classification requirements of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Guidance. The greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 are summarized below:


Source of Emission Analysis Method Approach Year Types of GHG Biofuel
  • Aviation fuel
  • Petrol and diesel used by official vehicles / engineering vehicles / forklifts / tow trucks
  • Refrigerant used to replenish vehicles / air conditioner / drink dispensers
  • Diesel used by emergency generations / boilers / fire trucks
  • Halon / CO2  / FM200 / FE36 fire extinguishers LPG and oxy-acetylene used during aircraft maintenance
  • GCB
  • Natural gas used by restaurant and boiler
  • Septic tanks
 Quantitative analysis Annual GHG inventory and external verification 2009 CO2 , N2O,
CH4, HFCs,
 1%、2% biofuel, SAF

Note: Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs has postponed to implement biofuel policy since May 2014.

Source of Emission Analysis Method Approach Year Types of GHG Biofuel
  • Externally purchased electricity
 Quantitative analysis Annual GHG inventory and external verification 2009 CO2e Based on the power generation structure published by Taiwan Power Company
Source of Emission Analysis Method Approach Year Types of GHG Biofuel
  • Upstream and downstream transportation and distribution
  • Business travel
  • Employee commuting
  • Client and visitor transportation
  • Purchased goods and services
  • Fuel and energy related activities (not included in category 1 or category 2)
  • Waste generated in operations
  • Franchises
  • Downsteam rental assets
 Quantitative analysis Perform annual identification, inventory and verification based on CAL’s indirect GHG emissions identification procedure and tool 2020 CO2e Based on the emission source characteristics
GHG Emissions of CAL, Mandarin Airlines, and Tigerair Taiwan

(Unit: tons CO2e)

Scope of GHG Company Items 2018 2019 2020 2021
Category 1 China Airlines Flight operations 7,229,903 7,059,083 5,787,751 5,875,531
Ground Operations in Taiwan 3,511 4,981 3,051 2,897
Ground Operations in Outstations (Note) 1,379 1,395 1,012.21 748
Mandarin Airlines Flight operations 255,241 237,699 107,505 63,987
Tigerair Taiwan Flight operations 336,684 362,794 53,514 988
Category 2 China Airlines Ground operations 19,949 18,169 17,572 16,697
Categories 3-6(Note) China Airlines Ground operations 1,644,656 1,607,690 3,109,822 3,174,662

Note 1: The statistics contain 100% of the aviation fuels used by China Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, and Tigerair Taiwan.

Note 2: GHG emissions verification body: BSI (2011-2013, 2015- 2016) and DNV GL (2014, 2017-2019).

Note 3: CAL calculated the emissions from the products purchased, capital goods, fuel and energy related activities not included in Scope 1 or 2, upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, waste treatment, employee commuting, upstream and downstream leased assets, and investments based on 15 classification requirements of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Guidance. The 2020 total emissions of 3,109,822 tons CO2e was based on ISO 14064-1:2018 and has passed the 3rd-party verification. The reason for the increase in categories Scope 3 to Scope 6 from 2019 to 2021 is the expansion of the inventory items and scope.

GHG Emissions: Scope 1、Scope 2


2021
2009

Aviation Fuel Performance

China Airlines

  • 2021 vs 2020

  • 2021 vs 2009

  • Unit: ton
  • Unit: GJ
Mandarin Airlines
  • Unit: ton
  • Unit: GJ
Tigerair Taiwan
  • Unit: ton
  • Unit: GJ
China Airlines

  • 2021 vs 2020

  • 2021 vs 2009

Mandarin Airlines
Tigerair Taiwan
China Airlines

  • 2021 vs 2020

  • 2021 vs 2009

Mandarin Airlines
Tigerair Taiwan
China Airlines

  • 2021 vs 2020

  • 2021 vs 2009

Mandarin Airlines
Tigerair Taiwan
China Airlines

  • 2021 vs 2020

  • 2021 vs 2009

Mandarin Airlines
Tigerair Taiwan

Energy Conservation Management Performance

28.1 ton

Sustainable Aviation Fuels (Cumulative three-year data)

3,489 kWh

Elevator power regeneration system (Cumulative three-year data)

Non-renewable Fuels (Unit: MWh)
Renewable Fuels (Unit: MWh)
  • Non-renewable Energy
  • Renewable Energy
Electricity
(Purchased)
(Unit: MWh)
Elevator Power Regeneration System (Recycled)
(Unit: KWh)
  • Electricity (Purchased)
  • Elevator Power Regeneration System (Recycled)

Note 1: Non-renewable fuels include gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), and aviation fuel. All CAL aircraft are counted as part of the calculation of aircraft fuel consumption.

Note 2: Renewable fuels include sustainable aviation fuels and solar photovoltaic.

Note 3: The scope of purchased power covers the areas of HQ Park, Taipei Branch Office, Songshan Park, maintenance Park (Hangars 2 and 3, Engine Maintenance Plant), and Kaohsiung Branch Office.

Note 4: Since the fourth quarter of 2017, 2 sets of the elevator power regeneration system have been installed at the Crew Center Building with high utility of elevators. Electricity is recycled and reused through the anti-motoring effect and the internal grid.

Carbon Footprint , Carbon Label and ECO Travel

Since 2015, CAL has calculated and updated the carbon footprint of its own international flights based on the calculation method announced by ICAO and IATA, and it has also been disclosed on the company’s corporate social responsibility website. In 2016, CAL formulated the Product Category Rule (PCR) to establish the operating guidelines for aviation industry to calculate carbon footprint. In 2017, CAL assisted Mandarin Airlines (MDA) to complete the carbon footprint calculation and received certification of the demonstrative route from Songshan to Kinmen in accordance with the carbon footprint guidelines established by the Environmental Protection Administration (Taiwan EPA) and the said PCR. MDA of CAL Group is the world‘s first airline that receives both ISO 14067 3rd party certificate and the carbon label granted by Taiwan EPA. In 2020, MDA with helps and supports from CAL further obtained the Taiwan EPA “carbon reduction label”, making it the world’s first airline to receive this label. In 2021, MDA was highly appreciated by the low-carbon review committee of the Taiwan EPA for its promoting low carbon products, and was selected as the year’s Low Carbon Product Merit Award.

Note: Mandarin Airlines calculated the carbon footprint of all domestic routes (learn more).

Carbon Label Life Cycle


CAL pays attention to global warming and climate change with practical actions and launched the Eco Travel Carbon Offsetting Program in 2018. The program provides the opportunity for passengers to offset the carbon footprints generated by their flights through eco-friendly and sustainable projects, ultimately achieving carbon-neutral or zero carbon flights. In order to widely promote and further enhance consumers' awareness and actions towards low-carbon travel, China Airlines Group Mandarin Airlines and Tigerair Taiwan both joined the "ECO Travel Carbon Offsetting Program" service in 2021, which are the first and only domestic and LCC airlines in Taiwan to promote carbon offset service.

Use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)

CAL has introduced the international benchmark experiences and starting from the 10th A350-900 in 2017. Total of five new aircraft flying operations were carried out to add Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) which passed the Certification of Sustainability (CoS) to reduce the environment impacts. A total of five A359 aircraft added about 60,000 pounds of SAFs and reduced about 84,000 kg CO2 emissions.

Furthermore, in response to the international trends of SAF using and technological development, CAL held the Taiwan first SAF workshop and Expert Consultation Meeting in 2018. More than 50 environmental experts from the government, industry, and academia in Taiwan were invited to exchange the information of global development trends and domestic practices and brainstorm the SAF strategies for Taiwan aviation industry. From 2019 to 2020, CAL have continued to hold sustainable aviation fuel expert consultation meetings and participated in industry-government forums to promote the cohesion of industry-government development consensus. China Airlines added 10% sustainable aviation fuel to the delivery of new-generation energy-efficient aircraft A321neo since 2021. CAL also invited key domestic industry-academic-research institutions to hold a seminar on sustainable aviation fuel strategy in 2022, and put forward suggestions on the promotion strategy and were highly affirmed and appraised by the participants.

Noise and Air Pollution Control

Since the noise-free engine is still in the development stage, CAL has initially adopted the following measures to reduce negative impact of noise generated during take-off and landing on local communities and frontline personnel without affecting safety:

  1. All aircrafts in the fleet (A350-900, A330-300, A321neo, 777-300ER, 737-800, 777F, and 747- 400F) have conformed to international noise standards (noise level for Chapters 3 and 4 of ICAO Annex 16); in particular, noise of A350-900 is 16 dB lower than the current standards and 20% less than that of the same model of competitors.
  2. Implement flight takeoff and landing operations in accordance with the Noise Abatement Procedures announced by each airport.
  3. Encourage the flight crew to employ the continuous descent approach (CDA) to continue low-noise operations, lower noise level, and reduce fuel consumption.
  4. Pay noise charges according to regulations of each country's airports on noise prevention.
  5. Collect international information through international exchange platforms, such as IATA to continue to carry out noise reduction.

Among the gases emitted by aircraft engines, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) have a significant impact on the local air quality. CAL reduces the impact on ground air quality during aircraft takeoff / landing mainly through introducing low-pollution new aircraft, encouraging the shutdown of one to two auxiliary power units (APUs) during taxiing, and improving the efficiency of ground power units. At present, CAL's all A350-900 aircraft are fully in place, and replace the A340-300 and 747-400 aircraft to provide passenger and cargo transportation services with a brand-new and young fleet. Mandarin Airlines has fully updated its fleet and has introduced ATR72-600 fuel efficient passenger aircrafts from 2017; as the end of 2020, nine new ATR aircraft have been introduced. Tigerair Taiwan has 11 A320neo aircraft and plans to introduce 15 A320neo aircraft in 2021. By introducing these next-generation new fleets, CAL group could further improve fuel efficiency and reduce NOx emissions at takeoff and landings.


Corporate NOx and SOx emissions

Passenger aircraft   2018 2019 2020 2021
SOx Emissions (ton)
 58.28 58.95 30.41 27.43
Emission efficiency (g/RTK) 0.0122 0.0122 0.0133 0.0150
NOx Emissions (ton)
 607.47 614.49 317.03 34.18
Emission efficiency (g/RPK) 0.0150 0.0149 0.0400 0.0538
Cargo aircraft   2018 2019 2020 2021
SOx Emissions (ton)
 13.79 13.09 14.58 16.06
Emission efficiency (g/RTK) 0.0029 0.0031 0.0030 0.0028
NOx Emissions (ton)
 143.74 136.48 152.04 167.43
Emission efficiency (g/RTK) 0.0300 0.0321 0.0317 0.0290

Note 1: SOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.000891, where 0.000891 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 2: NOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.009288, where 0.009288 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 3: LTO refers to the landing take-off.

Note 4: Mandarine Airlines and TigerAir Taiwan have no freight aircraft.

Note 5: Mandarin Airlines revised the 2018-2019 emission data in accordance with the adjustment of flight information system and adoption of RPK to calculate NOx efficiency.

Note 6: Tigerair Taiwan revised the 2018-2019 emission data in accordance with the adoption of RPK to calculate NOx efficiency.

Passenger aircraft   2019 2020 2021
SOx Emissions (ton)
 30.59 25.14 16.85
Emission efficiency (g/RTK) 0.2001 0.5307 0.6549
NOx Emissions (ton)
 318.88 262.10 175.61
Emission efficiency (g/RPK) 0.2086 0.5109 0.6802

Note 1: SOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.000891, where 0.000891 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 2: NOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.009288, where 0.009288 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 3: LTO refers to the landing take-off.

Note 4: Mandarine Airlines and TigerAir Taiwan have no freight aircraft.

Note 5: China Airlines revised the 2017 ~ 2018 emission data in accordance with the adjustment of flight information calculation scope.

Passenger aircraft   2019 2020 2021
SOx Emissions (ton)
 16.19 2.89 0.04
Emission efficiency (g/RTK) 0.0399 0.0486 0.0838
NOx Emissions (ton)
 168.72 30.09 0.46
Emission efficiency (g/RPK) 0.0368 0.0454 0.0784

Note 1: SOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.000891, where 0.000891 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 2: NOx is calculated based on the methodology of the American Environmental Protection Agency: Total annual emissions = Number of flights x 0.009288, where 0.009288 is the emission factor (tons / LTO).

Note 3: LTO refers to the landing take-off.

Note 4: Mandarine Airlines and TigerAir Taiwan have no freight aircraft.

Note 5: Mandarin Airlines revised the 2018-2019 emission data in accordance with the adjustment of flight information system and adoption of RPK to calculate NOx efficiency.

Note 6: Tigerair Taiwan revised the 2018-2019 emission data in accordance with the adoption of RPK to calculate NOx efficiency.

Waste Management

CAL manages waste according to five main principles: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair. CAL's objective is to recycle 100% of waste and increase the waste recycling rate year by year. For more information, please refer to Commitment and Long-Term Goals. Considering air transport service as the core business of the aviation industry, CAL has attended meetings organized by the IATA Cabin Waste Task Force. Since 2017, CAL has collected the total weight of cabin waste and waste recycled as the basis for arranging management strategies. In 2019, CAL has further formed a (in-flight) Waste Task Force for cabin waste management.


Waste Management Performance

Category Non-recyclable waste (Incineration, including power generation) Recyclable waste(transported to Recycling plants) Hazardous waste for legal landfill or chemical treatment Non-hazardous waste for legal landfill or chemical treatment Total
Ground Operations 383,180 88,656 13,160 164,564 649,560
In-flight Services 416,697 504,226 Non Non 920,924
Total (waste) 1,570,484kg
Category Non-recyclable waste for Incineration Recyclable waste transported to Recycling plants Hazardous waste for landfill or chemical treatment Non-hazardous waste for landfill or chemical treatment Total
Ground Operations 332,577 130,321 12,657 184,420 659,975
In-flight Services 943,952 341,366 1,285,318
Total (waste) 1,945,293kg
Category Non-recyclable waste for Incineration Recyclable waste transported to Recycling plants Hazardous waste for landfill or chemical treatment Non-hazardous waste for landfill or chemical treatment Total
Ground Operations 381,626 321,340 18,815 233,018 954,799
In-flight Services 3,052,461 1,116,396 4,168,857
Total (waste) 5,123,655kg

Note 1: Third-party contractors were appointed for removing and offsite processing of waste for disposal. CAL implements inspections in accordance with the contract to ensure compliance with regulations.
Note 2: Scope of statistics from service segments: EMO, CAL Park, Kaohsiung Office, VIP rooms of four stations (Taoyuan, Songshan, Kaohsiung and Tainan), and in-flight services in Taoyuan International Airport. Cargo services included starting from 2020.
Note 3: Revised the items and quantities of waste delivered to the airport incineration plant in 2019 to 2020 in accordance with regulations.
Note 4: For detailed waste management performance, please refer to cabin waste and ground waste and waste disposal statistics.

Water Resource Management

The domestic sewage of CAL is collected and sent to the airport sewage treatment plant for treatment, and wastewater is bound to be produced in the aircraft maintenance process, which causes heavy damage to our environment and needs to be properly treated before discharge. Based on the concept of full recycling and treatment, CAL has established two wastewater treatment plants in the maintenance park to handle electroplating wastewater (containing heavy metals such as chromium and cadmium) and organic wastewater produced in the engine and aircraft maintenance processes through tertiary treatment prior to reuse and discharge into the Nankan river basin (level C water body defined by TW EPA). In the first line of control, well-qualified employees are trained to carry out the management and regularly monitor the quality of the discharged water in accordance with the strict regulations. A second and third-level supervision and inspection mechanism of the corporate environmental systems has also covering the issues for close monitoring.


1,334 tons

Water savings of Eco-friendly fuselage cleaning procedure in 2021

  2018 2019 2020 2021
Volume of Tap water consumption (1000 tons)
 148.22 146.49 126.77 112.77
Volume of Recycled Water (1000 tons)
 31.94 17.41 8.64 14.23
Water savings of Eco-friendly fuselage cleaning procedure (tons)
 1,081 1,176 845 1,344
Volume of heavy metal wastewater (ton)
 10,014 9,620 6,750 7,715
Volume of Organic wastewater (ton)
 10,443 11,638 12,593 9,224
Volume of wastewater discharge (ton)
20,457 21,258 19,343 16,939

Note 1: Scope covered by tap water meters: CAL Park, maintenance plants, Songshan Park, and Taipei Branch. EMO and CAL Park are included in the calculation of the amount of recycled water.
Note 2: Everyday sewage is monitored according to the government's environmental protection regulations, collected and sent through the sewage systems to the sewage treatment plants at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei City, and Kaohsiung City to be processed.
Note 3: The source of tap water is from Taiwan Water Corporation.

2021 Test result The first wastewater plant (Jan to Jun) The second wastewater plant (Jan to Jun) The first wastewater plant (July to Dec) The second wastewater plant (July to Dec) Effluent Standards
PH 7.7 7.6 7.4 8.2 6~9
Water temperature (℃) 28.5 9 21.9 21.7
  • From October to April: Below 35℃
  • From May to September: Below 38℃
Suspended solid 1.5 2.5 1.4 2.8 30
Chemical Oxygen Demand, COD 17.8 10.3 16.6 7.1 100

Announcement and Communication — Build an Image of Environmental Protection

As a member of the transportation services industry, CAL recognizes the need to integrate environmental processes with the nature of the operations and include these processes in the company's services. Therefore, environment management committees are individually established for cargo and passenger services to coordinate and carry out relevant environmental measures. To implement external communication, CAL communicates the corporate concept and performance of environmental protection with stakeholders through social media and in-flight magazines in hopes of creating and spreading the awareness of green consumption.

The key measures carried out in 2021 include:

Promote environmentally friendly awareness and consumer behavior

  • Continued the practice of closing windows during summer to lower the temperature of the cabin and thus reduce the cost of the use of the auxiliary power unit (APU) and airport energy use
  • Selected 12 environment and ecology-themed videos to play during flights
  • Published 4 environmental protection articles and reports via social media which reached 196,294 viewers
  • Added the warning of an embargo on transport of endangered species on the Company website
  • Continued to publish CAL's environmental practices and electronic and mobile approaches to carbon reduction for in-flight magazines
  • Marked the Taipei-Kinmen Carbon Label on the website of Mandarin Airlines, supplies, check-in counter, boarding passes, inflight magazines

Promote green consumption

  • Incorporated environment-friendly products to the sales and duty-free goods delivered home catalog, and set up “Green Life store” in CAL eMALL
  • Updated and shared the carbon footprint of routes
  • Enhanced the promotion of the voluntary ECO Travel Carbon Offsetting Program to passengers; Mandarin Airlines and Tigerair Taiwan provided ECO Travel service and disclosed information on the official website
  • Mandarin Airlines and Tigerair Taiwan set up the Environmental Sustainability Section on the official website to publish the "Environment and Energy Policy Statement" and the results of "Carbon Labeling", and "Carbon Reduction Labeling"

Optimize service processes and reduce waste

  • Used 100% FSC paper for printing boarding passes
  • Adopted local ingredients for in-flight meals and Group catering and put a ban on food ingredients from endangered species
  • Implemented waste management
  • Promoted complete digitalization of menus
  • Incorporated the concept of environmental protection into design of in-flight meals and supplies
  • Continued the digitalization of in-flight magazines and weight and quantity reduction of in-flight service supplies to enhance weight reduction and fuel-saving benefits