Environmental Management
and Compliance
We’re committed to ensuring compliance with legislation and applying management focus and operational controls to limit the impact of our business on the environment.
We review new legislation when issued and monitor compliance with existing legislation, taking action where needed to respond to changing requirements.
We deliver specialist environmental training to colleagues across the business, ensuring our teams can confidently manage compliance requirements relevant to their operations.
Environmental
Management System
In 2025, International Air Transport Association (IATA) conducted an independent assessment of our Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS was assessed against the IATA Environmental Assessment (IEnvA) standard, including reviews of documents, processes and procedures as well as onsite audits of our UK corporate facilities, global flight operations, UK base and line maintenance operations and Heathrow ground operations.
For the first time, the IEnvA assessment also included IEnvA wildlife standards, which we implemented to address the risk of illegal wildlife trafficking across our operations.
We successfully passed the assessment, maintaining our standing as an IEnvA registered organisation.
To meet IEnvA standards and deliver our BA Better World objectives, we maintain management and action plans to address our significant environmental aspects and impacts. This includes working to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce resource consumption and waste and address pollution risks.
The IEnvA process ensures that we’re continually reviewing, evaluating and improving our environmental performance and the effectiveness of our environmental management system.
Fighting Illegal
Wildlife Trafficking
The illegal wildlife trade accelerates species extinction, depletes natural ecosystems, and increases the risk of introducing invasive and harmful species. As signatories to the Buckingham Palace Declaration, we remain committed to preventing illegal wildlife trafficking through a zero-tolerance approach.
We have strengthened our approach in recent years through targeted colleague engagement to help colleagues recognise and report suspected incidents of wildlife trafficking.
Throughout 2025, alongside regular engagement events delivered in collaboration with UK Border Force, we’ve also expanded our wildlife champion network to more than 200 colleagues. Champions act as ambassadors by sharing information, promoting key messages, and encouraging good practice among colleagues across the business.
In 2025, we became an IATA IEnvA Wildlife certified airline, providing independent assurance that robust policies, procedures and controls are embedded across our operations
Partnership with the Wildlife Contraband Detection Unit in Kenya
Throughout 2025, British Airways and the African Wildlife Foundation have partnered to strengthen Kenya Wildlife Services’ (KWS) capacity to detect and deter illegal wildlife tracking at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, one of Africa’s busiest transit hubs and a critical point in the global fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
As part of our commitment to the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce, and as signatories of the Buckingham Palace Declaration, we sponsored the training and deployment of two highly-skilled contraband detection canines and 21 KWS canine handlers.
From January to September 2025, the KWS team scanned more than 25,000 flights, 55,000 cargo shipments, 103,000 pieces of luggage and 36 shipping containers for wildlife contraband. Our contribution to the African Wildlife Foundation has meant that more flights, cargo and baggage can be checked each day, increasing the chance of capturing illegal wildlife products before they make their way onto an aircraft.
Supporting Conservation Efforts
In 2020, a major oil spill off the coast of Mauritius devastated the island’s native gecko population. A small number of survivors were rescued by conservationists and taken to Jersey Zoo to establish an emergency breeding programme.
By 2025, conservationists were ready to return the geckos to Mauritius,this time as eggs,to help rebuild the species.
Working closely with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, British Airways customer care teams, airport managers in Jersey, Gatwick and Mauritius, security staff, and cabin crew, we were able to safely transport the reptilian eggs back to Mauritius. The initial trial flight delivered an excellent 88% hatch rate, marking real progress in rebuilding genetic diversity.
The Mauritius Island Restoration Programme is a partnership between Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), and the National Parks and Conservation Service (NPCS), with support from the Forestry Service.
Water Stewardship
We’re working to reduce water consumption across our maintenance and office facilities. A baseline review was conducted in 2023 to measure current water usage, helping us track progress and focus on areas with the greatest potential for improvement.
In 2025, we refurbished our bathrooms at our head office. This incorporated multiple water-saving measures which will reduce our long-term water demand, such as the installation of low-flow taps and outlets, alongside smart sensors on key water consuming assets such as taps and flush mechanisms to automatically control use and prevent wastage. Over 50 tonnes of redundant materials were donated for reuse, including more than 100 sinks, mirrors, vanity units and toilet doors.
Supporting Biodiversity
In 2025, we partnered with consultants to evaluate our reliance and impact on nature across our entire value chain. This work will continue into 2026, giving us a clear understanding of how our operations effect natural ecosystems and helping us identify the most effective strategies to mitigate these impacts.
We successfully retained the Green Flag Award for 2025–26, recognising the high standard of management at our Waterside Parkland. This reflects the continued dedication of our park rangers, who have delivered innovative habitat management to support protected species, while working closely with stakeholders to control and remove invasive non-native species.
In October 2025, our park rangers, together with members of the Harmondsworth Village Horticultural Society, attended the London in Bloom Awards, where ‘The Moor’ achieved a Silver Gilt Award, complementing its existing Green Flag status and highlighting the quality of biodiversity and management across the site.
Alongside this, we strengthened our protection of surrounding habitats and waterways by extending our drainage infrastructure survey beyond our operations base to include Cargo. This has created a comprehensive set of drawings, enabling prompt identification of drainage assets and supporting improved spill response.
BA Better World Community Fund Collaborations
Through the BA Better World Community Fund, we support a range of organisations focused on protecting biodiversity, nature and natural resources to enable circularity. In 2025, this included:
- Forestry England – planting 9,000 trees at Harbottle Forest, a red squirrel reserve in Northumberland.
- The London Clean Air Initiative – a project in Newham to address challenges around air quality, health inequalities, environmental awareness, and access to nature
- Trees for Cities – planting, protecting and promoting urban trees in London (very close to Heathrow Airport), Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle and Brighton
- Orkney Skate Monitoring – Protecting shark and skate species through community-led research
- Peatland restoration at Munsary – Restoring crucial peatland habitat in the UNESCO designated Flow Country’s World Heritage Site
- Saltmarsh Protection – Enhancing the ecology of the River Dart by protecting threatened saltmarsh
- Pesticide Free Devon – to reduce pesticide use across Devon by empowering communities, farmers and land
- Project Plastocene at Plymouth Marine Laboratory – Assessing the true hidden carbon cost of marine plastics to generate new evidence to reduce plastic packaging waste
- London Wildlife Trust – Protecting and enhancing seven nature reserves and country parks in Hillingdon
- Energy Garden – Providing support for London communities to transform their local train station into gardens for food growing and biodiversity improvement
- Surplus to Supper – To bridge the gap between food waste and food poverty locally
- Football for Peace’s Rehydrate the Earth Campaign – to revive Rajasthan’s water and ecosystems by restoring groundwater and empowering communities and youth to protect their land and future.