LATAM Group announced its first alliance with a project dedicated to the conservation and restoration of an iconic ecosystem in South America. The project, called CO2BIO, is located in the Colombian Orinoquía and covers more than 200,000 hectares of flooded savanna. Over the next few months, the group hopes to unveil new alliances in the countries where it operates in the region.
CO2BIO has been promoted by the Cataruben Foundation and has the support of the Natural Wealth Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Panthera Colombia. This is the first project in LATAM Group’s portfolio that supports the challenge of offsetting 50% of its domestic routes by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
“CO2BIO is the first project in LATAM’s portfolio dedicated to the conservation and rehabilitation of iconic ecosystems in South America. Projects like this allow us to advance in three areas: protecting the natural heritage of our region for future generations, combating climate change through greater CO2 capture, and contributing to improving the quality of life of local communities,” said Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM Group. “Through this project, we are taking a concrete step to meet our goal of offsetting 50% of domestic emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The CO2BIO project includes activities for the conservation of forests, wetlands and grasslands, in addition to promoting the development of sustainable production activities in the departments of Casanare, Vichada, Arauca and Meta. One hundred and ninety-one families live in the area, which form part of the conservation project of the 200,000 hectares of flooded savanna, home to more than 2,000 species.
Through conservation and rehabilitation actions, this initiative will capture 1 million tons of CO2 during the 2021-2023 period, and has the potential to capture up to an additional 2.8 million tons by 2025, if progress is made in new stages of the project. During the next few months, LATAM expects to announce new projects for the conservation of iconic ecosystems in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
It should be remembered that LATAM Group launched its sustainability strategy in May 2021, which commits to eliminate single-use plastics by 2023, generate zero waste to landfill by 2027, offset 50% of domestic emissions by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050.
About LATAM Airlines Group
LATAM is the principal group of airlines in Latin America present in five domestic markets in the region: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in addition to international operations inside Latin America and between it and Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean.
The group has a fleet of Boeing 767, 777, 787, Airbus A321, A320, A320neo and A319 aircraft.
LATAM Cargo Chile, LATAM Cargo Colombia, and LATAM Cargo Brazil are the LATAM Airlines freight subsidiaries. In addition to having access to the passenger cargo holds of LATAM Airlines Group, they have a fleet of 11 freighters, which will gradually increase to a total of up to 21 freighters by 2023.
They operate on the LATAM Group network as well as international routes that are solely used for shipping. They offer modern Infrastructure, a wide variety of services and protection options to meet all customer needs.
Featured image credited to LATAM
