Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Lobbying Overview: Air France-KLM exhibits both positive and negative strategic engagement with science-aligned climate policy in 2023-25. Although Air France-KLM has supported the EU’s top-line climate targets, the company has advocated to weaken the EU Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mandate and the flight cap at Schiphol airport.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Air France-KLM appeared to support a long-term aspirational goal (LTAG)] through ICAO of net-zero CO2 emissions from international aviation by 2050 in its 2024 Universal Registration Document published in April 2025. However, KLM appeared to emphasize cost and competitiveness concerns resulting from climate policies for aviation in the minutes of a February 2025 meeting with DG MOVE. Additionally, in a June 2025 interview, Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM, appeared unsupportive of aviation taxation and emphasized competitiveness concerns resulting from climate policies for aviation, stressing the need for a level playing field. InfluenceMap was unable to find a position from Air France-KLM on the Paris Agreement in 2023-25.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Air France-KLM’s ‘European Policy Priorities 2024-2029’, published in March 2024, supported an EU SAF mandate, advocated for further incentives and supported a global SAF blending mandate. However, the minutes of a January 2025 meeting with DG MOVE indicate that Air France-KLM emphasized competitiveness concerns resulting from the EU SAF mandate. Air France-KLM echoed this position and advocated for a book and claim system, according to the minutes of a March 2025 meeting with DG CLIMA. Additionally, the CEO of Air France-KLM, Ben Smith, emphasized competitiveness concerns resulting from the EU SAF mandate in a June 2025 Interview.
Regarding the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the CEO of Air France-KLM, Ben Smith, appeared to oppose its application to departing international flights and emphasized carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns with the EU ETS reform for aviation, in a June 2025 interview. KLM supported the removal of free emissions allowances and the ‘tightening of the ETS ceiling from 2024’ in a January 2024 joint statement. KLM also supported the phase-out of free allowances and a tightening of the cap from 2024 through an April 2024 Joint Report. In a July 2024 consultation response, Air France-KLM supported an intra-EEA scope for the non-CO2 monitoring, reporting and verification framework under the EU ETS.
In a January 2024 joint statement KLM stated support for a strengthened CORSIA scheme, without specifying what ‘strengthening’ means and supported increased investment in EU rail to support a low-carbon modal shift from short-haul flights to rail. Air France-KLM also supported a low-carbon modal shift from air to rail for intermodal journeys in its European Policy Priorities 2024-2029 published in March 2024.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Air France-KLM supported increased investment and support for e-SAF including under the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan through a June 2025 Project SkyPower open letter. The minutes of a January meeting with DG MOVE disclosed that Air France-KLM contributed to the development of the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan.
In a January 2024 joint statement, KLM called for a global kerosene tax on all flights and the development of infrastructure and policies to enable electric and hydrogen aircraft, while appearing unsupportive of increased national air passenger duty tax. Air France-KLM further supported a global kerosene tax in its ‘2024-2029 European Policy Priorities’, published in March 2024, but its position on an EU kerosene tax was unclear.
More negatively, KLM opposed reductions in flight capacity at Schiphol airport in a June 2024 consultation response and its CEO, Marjan Rintel, advocated for its removal in a December 2024 letter to Dutch Ministers. Furthermore, Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM appeared to oppose the cap at Schiphol airport in a June 2025 interview. Air France-KLM opposed an increase in the French tickettax in a January 2025 article. This position was echoed by Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM, in media articles published in October and November 2024.
Industry Association Governance: Air France-KLM has published a list of some of its industry association memberships without disclosing their climate positions and engagement activities. The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement. The CEO of Air France-KLM is the chair of Airlines for Europe, which has both positive and negative engagement with climate policy. Air France-KLM also retains board-level membership of the International Air Transport Association which is opposed to ambitious climate policy for aviation. KLM is a member of BusinessEurope, which has generally advocated in opposition to stringent European climate policy, alongside Airlines UK and the Dutch Employers Federation, which are both positively and negatively engaged on climate policy.
The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement.
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