Leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus is showing support for the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity by featuring the official logo on its largest passenger aircraft – the A380.

In addition to pioneering greener flight, to which the flagship A380 pays testimony, Airbus is using its global outreach to back the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Green Wave initiative, designed to educate young people about the importance of biodiversity, its role in their future and the steps they can take to nurture the nature around them.

Rainer Ohler, SVP Public Affairs & Communications said: “The aviation sector remains committed to tackling the two percent it contributes to manmade carbon dioxide emissions, having already reduced aircraft emissions by 70 per cent and noise by 75 per cent in the last 40 years. However, as a global company, Airbus is also committed to using its global outreach to support those tackling the other 98 per cent of emissions. Both commitments are key to a more sustainable world, where growth in air travel need not be inconsistent with preserving the environment. This is why Airbus is supporting the CBD and backing the Green Wave, to make this global campaign as far reaching as possible.”

The A380 will carry the logo throughout 2010 during its scheduled activities. Developed as the most efficient airliner ever conceived, the A380 symbolises the aviation industry’s determination to balance growth in air travel with a commitment to minimise its carbon footprint. The A380 has set a new benchmark for fuel consumption at less than three litres per 100 seat kilometres (km), corresponding to less than 75g of CO₂ per passenger per km.

An Airbus A380 carries the logo of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. The aircraft manufacturer is working in partnership with the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to build awareness of the importance of biodiversity through the CBD’s Green Wave initiative.