Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Qantas is highly engaged with Australian climate policy in 2023-25, with increasingly positive positioning. Qantas supports GHG emissions reductions in line with 1.5 degrees and a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate in Australia, however, it is unclear if Qantas' support for an increased role of SAF is aligned with IPCC guidelines, scales or time frames. In addition, Qantas remains a member of several industry associations that demonstrate oppositional advocacy on climate policy, including the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME)
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Qantas displays supportive top-line messaging on climate policy. Qantas’ 2024 sustainability report, published in September 2024, supported the goals of the Paris Agreement and a reduction in GHG emissions in line with 1.5C degrees. Qantas also appeared to support government regulation for the aviation sector to respond to climate change in its 2023 Annual Report published in September 2023.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Qantas' engagement with climate-related regulations in 2023-25 is largely concentrated to advocacy promoting the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel policies in Australia. Qantas supported the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) policies in Australia. A January 2025 Submission to the Commonwealth Budget generally supported policies incentivizing the production and uptake of SAFs. In its 2024 Sustainability report, published in September 2024, Qantas also supported the introduction of a SAF mandate in Australia. Similarly, in a November 2023 submission to Australia’s Aviation Green Paper, Qantas supported the introduction of an Australian SAF mandate that starts in 2026 at a rate of 1.5% and increases to 5% in 2030, 12% in 2035 and 28% in 2040 alongside a SAF tax credit. A January 2024 consultation response, an April 2024 consultation response and an August 2024 consultation response further called for the introduction of an incrementally increasing SAF mandate, accompanied by incentive mechanisms and revenue support that correspond to the carbon intensity of SAFs.
Regarding sustainability criteria for SAFs, in a July 2024 consultation response, Qantas supported the exclusion of feedstocks contributing to deforestation and emissions calculations through CORSIA's methodology. In a July 2023 policy submission, Qantas advocated for increased stringency of SAF criteria and supported the incorporation of land-use change emissions under lifecycle analysis of SAFs. Qantas echoed its support for stringent SAF sustainability criteria and the inclusion of land-use change emissions in a November 2023 submission to Australia’s Aviation Green Paper. A November 2023 report commissioned by Qantas further acknowledged the risk of indirect land-use change from crop-based SAFs and appeared supportive of incentive-based measures to promote nascent technologies with less land implications.
Qantas also appears to support the implementation of a low carbon fuel standard in Australia, as evidenced in a November 2023 submission to Australia’s Aviation Green Paper, Qantas again appeared to support an Australian low-carbon fuel standard. This position was reiterated in January 2024 and April 2024 consultation responses.
Qantas also supported the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) in its 2024 sustainability report, published in September 2024.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Qantas actively supports an increased role for SAFs, electric and hydrogen powered aircraft.. For example in a January 2025 consultation response, Qantas expressed support for the increased use of SAFs. In its 2024 sustainability report, Qantas supported the use of SAFs alongside synthetic power-to-liquid fuels. Qantas also expressed support for electric and hydrogen-powered propulsion for regional flights in the longer-term in a November 2023 policy submission. In a July 2024 consultation response, Qantas further supported SAFs, with a switch to synthetic fuels in the longer-term, and called for the redirection of fossil fuel subsidies to renewable fuels.
Industry Association Governance: Qantas has disclosed a list of its industry association memberships in its 2024 sustainability report. Qantas does not appear to have published an industry association review. Qantas is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) which have negative engagement with climate policy. However, Qantas is a also member of the Carbon Market Institute which are positively engaged on climate policies, and the Business Council of Australia and for Australia and New Zealand which both have positive and negative positioning on climate policy.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2025.