How Delta Tops U.S. Airlines for Sustainability   

sustainability

Delta is one of America's 100 most sustainable companies – No. 27, to be precise – and the No. 1 U.S. airline, according to an in-depth Barron's study that rated 1,000 companies in five key categories: shareholders, employees, customers, environment and community.

Delta has also been named on the FTSE4Good Index for four consecutive years, included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for eight consecutive years and given an honorable mention in Fast Company's 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards. 

Here are some of the highlights of Delta's social responsibility and sustainability efforts.

Giving back​

  • Delta gives 1 percent of its net income from the previous year to charitable organizations around the world, in 2018, this was more than $50 million.
  • For the first time in 2019, Delta is paying all 80,000+ employees to spend a day volunteering in their communities.

Cutting emissions

  • Delta is speeding up its environmental sustainability efforts by replacing hundreds of aircraft over the next five years with more fuel efficient A321s, A220s and Boeing 737-900ERs.
  • As part of Delta’s voluntary commitment to carbon-neutral growth, the airline has purchased almost 12 million carbon offsets since 2012.
  • Delta’s new wireless IFE will help reduce carbon emissions through being lighter. 

Eliminating waste

  • Removing single-use plastic like straws, stirrers and plastic wrappers will help eliminate an estimated 300,000lbs of plastic waste each year – equivalent to the weight of two 757s.
  • Delta’s old uniforms have been up or down-cycled, in one of the biggest landfill diversion projects in U.S. history.
  • Meanwhile, over 10 years Delta has recycled more than 3 million pounds of aluminum from onboard waste — equivalent to 22 Boeing 747s. The airline has used funds from the recycling program to build homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity

Fighting human trafficking

  • Delta has extended its fight against human trafficking with enhanced employee training and community partnerships. More than 56,000 Delta employees are trained to spot trafficking indicators and the airline launched a customer awareness campaign this year to urge customers to #GetOnBoard.

Celebrating diversity 

  • Achieving and maintaining employee gender pay equity at 100 percent.
  • Sponsoring Pride events around the world including London, Paris, New York and Atlanta. In fact, Delta has been recognized as a “Best Workplace for Diversity” by Fortune for three years in a row.
 
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