Customers are increasingly demanding sustainable travel and mobility offers. At the same time, companies are also looking for ways to achieve their sustainability goals. The Lufthansa Innovation Hub now addresses this growing demand with a new solution.

With Squake, the Lufthansa Group's central digitalization unit launches a CO₂ compensation platform aimed at companies from the entire travel, mobility, and transport industry. By using an application programming interface (API) companies can now easily calculate and offset the CO₂ emissions of the services they offer. The new solution permits them to develop individual sustainable products that are optimally tailored to the needs of their customers.

"The travel and mobility market is urgently looking for effective solutions to increase sustainability. Our answer to this is the climate tech startup Squake, which helps companies accelerate their development of sustainable products," says Christine Wang, Managing Director Lufthansa Innovation Hub. "With Squake, we are able to make our offsetting expertise accessible beyond aviation. It is only possible to achieve sustainability in the long term if we work together, which is why we rely on cooperation within the market and between the participating companies. Our vision for Squake is that it will provide a ‘green-tech backbone’ for travel and mobility."

Here’s how Squake works

When customers of an online travel agency (OTA) book a trip using different modes of transport, e.g. rental car, flight, ferry, bus, the platform automatically calculates the CO₂ emissions of the entire trip. Customers can then offset the calculated emissions during the booking process.

Companies can simply integrate the Squake interface into their own online portals. This means they can immediately offer "green rates" or make their entire offering CO₂-neutral. The first European startups from the travel management, shared mobility, and logistics sectors are already successfully using the service.

"Profitability and sustainability have to work together," says Dan Kreibich, project lead of Squake. "We help companies come up with sustainable offerings in the shortest possible time that are precisely tailored to their target groups. We’re convinced that sustainable products contribute to sales growth."

Broad portfolio of certified climate protection projects for CO₂ compensation

Companies can choose from a broad portfolio of high-quality climate protection projects to compensate the CO₂ emissions of their travel and mobility offers. These projects are certified to the highest industry standards, such as the Gold Standard or the Plan Vivo Standard, and have undergone a corresponding auditing process. The portfolio includes energy or solar projects as well as innovative technologies that extract CO₂ directly from the atmosphere ("direct air capture") and the use of sustainable fuels. Project partners include renowned climate protection organizations such as myclimate as well as innovative technology partners such as Climeworks or GoodShipping. In the future, Squake would like to focus in particular on innovative technologies and continuously expand its services to its partners. Companies can opt for those projects that fit their own sustainability goals and corporate philosophy.

Further information on Squake and an overview of all the project partners can be found at www.squake.earth.