Etihad has expanded its mangrove planting programme with a new commitment to ‘adopt’ a mangrove for each booking in its Economy Space seat.
The Etihad Forest programme is part of the Abu Dhabi Mangrove Initiative and is a planting program to establish carbon absorbing forests in every continent Etihad operates.
Etihad Airways has committed to adopt a mangrove tree on behalf of every guest who books an Economy Space seat, “ensuring every “space” seat sold is eventually carbon neutral”. Each mangrove planted alone will absorb up to 250kg of CO2 in its lifetime – the same amount produced by an eight-hour flight.
In Abu Dhabi, the Etihad Mangrove Forest which launched in February 2022, is aiming to plant 182,000 mangroves tree in by the first quarter of 2023. The next phase of the programme will plant new forests in international destinations. Mangroves remove up to four times more carbon dioxide from the air than other tropical forests, helping to fight the effects of climate change such as coral bleaching and coastline degradation, as well as support biodiversity and wildlife as an important habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife.
Economy Space seating was launched in 2018. It is not premium economy seating, but is economy seating with more legroom. To read more, see
Etihad Airways launches Economy Space seating
Every passenger who books an Economy Space seat will receive confirmation of their gifted mangrove in the Etihad Forest within 10 days of flying. From the email link, it will be possible to track, virtually visit, see photos and other details of their tree, confirming the carbon offset for their recent travel. Guests have the option to register their claimed tree so they can easily revisit their tree at a later day. Through the platform’s app, Etihad guests can “chat” with their chatbot enabled tree, while also being able to track every tree with satellite maps and access data, including CO2 consumption metrics which can be tracked.
Mariam Al Qubaisi, Head of Sustainability, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “In addition to our own sustainability ambitions, we made a commitment to helping our guests and partners to travel more sustainably and empower them to make conscious choices. With the latest evolution of our sustainability programme to plant a mangrove on behalf of every guest who books an Economy Space seat, we’re simplifying the process so anyone can travel sustainably.”
“The Etihad Mangrove Forest is a key initiative in our sustainability journey to ensure our responsibility to remove carbon from the atmosphere is progressing. The intent is to create forests on all continents we fly to, and to provide our guests with an engaging opportunity to take part in the solution.”
Etihad Guest Platinum members can reserve a seat in Economy Space for free, or save 50 per cent as an Etihad Guest Gold member.
Guests in other cabins can also take part in the Etihad Forest initiative using Etihad Guest Miles in the Reward Shop, while a range of additional options are offered to meet corporate partner requirements and provide bundled-offset options through the Corporate Conscious Choices programme.
