Ecology - MTU Aero Engines

Sustainable mobility starts here

Mobility and global connections are more vital than ever, but at the same time they pose a challenge to climate action. With our Climate Transition Plan, we’re shaping the path to a sustainable future: technologically, strategically, and all along our value chain. Our aim is to continuously reduce emissions and to resolutely drive this project forward every day. As a technology leader, we’re supporting commercial aviation’s net zero ambitions by advancing and hybridizing the gas turbine as well as developing the fuel cell as a new propulsion concept. And we’re strengthening the circular economy through resource-efficient repair techniques in maintenance.

CO₂ targets at a glance

MTU has set itself ambitious science-based CO₂ targets that are aligned with the Paris Agreement. Our Climate Transition Plan takes into account all major sources of emissions—from purchased materials and our sites to the use of our engines in airline operations:

Reduction of GHG emissions at our own sites (Scope 1 & 2):

-63% compared to 2024 by 2035
-90% compared to 2024 by 2050
climate neutral through permanent CO₂ removal by 2050

Reduction of CO₂ emissions from products (Scope 3):

-45% CO₂ per available seat kilometer by 2040 (base year 2019)
contribution to commercial aviation’s net zero ambition

This is how MTU calculates CO₂ emissions

This is how we shape the transition:

Reduce

Using energy more efficiently, for example through more economical ventilation systems or more efficient generations of engines, such as the geared turbofan.

Shift

Switching to renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy or green electricity, as well as electrifying facilities—for example by installing efficient heat pumps.

Remove

Relying on solutions for permanent CO₂ removal in the future wherever it’s impossible to avoid emissions. One option is Direct Air Capture, which removes CO₂ from the air.

Enable

Creating the framework with climate-friendly site expansion, investments in green technology, and the necessary data, methods, and tools. For this purpose we launched the ecoTransition program.

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On the way toward sustainable aviation

In our Clean Air Engine (Claire) technology agenda, we lay out innovative technologies and concepts for sustainable commercial engines. The course we’re following is clear: The propulsion concepts of the future and beyond aim to greatly reduce emissions of climate-damaging gases—CO₂ and nitrogen oxides—and curb the formation of contrails. Further reductions in energy consumption remain important. To this end, we’re developing the highly efficient geared turbofan even further and investing in new, groundbreaking technologies such as the Flying Fuel Cell^TM. By 2040, we also want to reduce the carbon emissions of our products by 45 percent (per available seat kilometer).
Find out more

More renewables, less CO₂

What goes for our products applies equally to our production facilities and maintenance shops: We want our operations to steadily reduce emissions that impact the climate. Sustainable engines must be built in a sustainable way. MTU’s climate strategy and its targets for 2050 are based on this holistic approach. Our next milestone is to reduce CO₂ emissions by 63 percent by 2035 (base year 2024). MTU is also focusing on sustainable energy sources—and drilling deep: At our Munich site, we’ve built a geothermal plant that can cover up to 80 percent of our heating requirements with renewable energy. Further projects, such as an ice storage facility at the Hannover site, are underway.Find out more

Strengthening resource cycles – from development to maintenance

When it comes to our use of raw materials, too, we consider the entire lifecycle of our products—from development, manufacturing, and maintenance through to their disposal. We place great importance on reparability and resource efficiency right from the design stage. That’s because engines are real treasure troves: 98,3 percent of the materials used in our MTU modules are recyclable and, thanks to innovative processes, we can manufacture them resource-efficiently at our production sites. Robust designs and tailored maintenance extend the service life of the engines and ensure optimal use of valuable raw materials, which is why we’re developing a Group-wide circular economy strategy by 2027.

ESG Factbook

Our low-pressure turbines, high-pressure compressors, and turbine center frames have a very high metal content and are predominantly made of high-quality nickel and titanium alloys. When our modules and individual components reach the end of their life, they can be melted down and the valuable raw materials reused. Given the value of the materials, we ensure that any chips arising from production are recovered and sorted by material type and then returned to our supply chain. This enables us to increase the security of supply of critical raw materials, do our part to handle resources carefully, and reduce CO₂ emissions by using recycled raw materials in the value creation process.

Andrea Hohmann is responsible for the circular economy at MTU Aero Engines

Reducing the impact on water ressources

We use water responsibly as a natural resource, and we have set up a local water management system for water protection at the production and maintenance sites.

Find out more in our Factbook