OREANDA-NEWS. March 28, 2012. ANA Group, Japan's largest airline group, is launching an ambitious new environmental program with the aim of reducing its carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.

Dubbed ANA Fly Eco 2020, the plan will see the introduction of more fuel efficient aircraft into the ANA fleet, use of biofuels in place of conventional aviation fuel and more fuel-efficient operating procedures.

ANA was the first airline in the global aviation industry to set itself a target for reducing total CO2 emissions. The new CO2 reduction target will mean that ANA will cut its emissions per revenue ton kilometer by a fifth over the 15-year period to 2020.

ANA is also committed to reducing the absolute tonnage of CO2 emissions from domestic operations to an average of 4.4 million tons over the 2012-2020 period compared with 5 million tons in 2005. This 600,000 ton reduction in CO2 is the equivalent of taking 120,000 cars off the road.

A key element in achieving the 2020 target will be the expansion of ANA's fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which uses 20 per cent less fuel than the aircraft it replaces, thanks to its revolutionary carbon fiber composite structure and more fuel-efficient engines. ANA is the launch customer for the Dreamliner and will have 55 of the aircraft in service by 2017.

The latest medium to long term environmental program will take ANA through to the end of this decade when a new international framework to combat global warming will be established to replace the Kyoto protocol.