Gamifying ESG: Making Sustainability Fun for Flyers

August 27, 2025

minute read

What if cutting your carbon footprint earned you tier perks and bragging rights?

For many travellers, sustainability has long felt like a duty. Yet the next generation of flyers (75% of whom want travel choices to reflect their values) see it as a differentiator. At the same time, airlines are under pressure to hit Net Zero 2050 targets without losing customer loyalty.

Gamification offers a way forward. By turning eco-actions into milestones, airlines can make sustainability visible, engaging, and part of the everyday travel experience.

Why gamification works for behaviour change

One of the biggest hurdles in sustainability is that impact feels distant. Travellers rarely see results from their choices, so motivation fades quickly.

Gamification closes that gap. It draws on motivators like achievement, recognition, and community. Badges for offsetting flights, points for packing light, or leaderboards for eco-scores make green choices desirable rather than dutiful. Add meaningful perks, like lounge access or bonus miles, and small nudges turn into lasting habits.

Gamified ESG in action (real examples)

Several airlines are already experimenting with this approach.

Qantas’ Green Tier programme rewards travellers for eco-conscious actions such as selecting sustainable hotels or offsetting flights. These actions translate into tangible benefits like 10,000 Qantas Points or 50 Status Credits, directly linking climate impact with loyalty incentives.

Etihad Airways has integrated sustainability into its Etihad Guest programme through Conscious Choices. Travellers earn badges for actions like travelling with less baggage, and points can be redeemed for environmental causes, effectively making passengers active participants in the airline’s climate strategy.

Beyond aviation, hotels and loyalty programmes use eco-badges, donation rewards, and challenges to encourage sustainable behaviour. These examples show gamification both educates and incentivises, aligning ESG with customer engagement.

Digital design for impact

How Branchspace can power this:
Branchspace enables airlines to embed ESG seamlessly into digital retailing through two complementary offerings: Triplake and Transform.

Triplake: Our technology platform supports gamification and loyalty mechanics across the journey. Features could include dashboards for carbon savings, challenges like “Pack Light”, booking prompts for vegan meals or SAF opt-ins, eco-marketplace add-ons, and leaderboards for sharing eco-scores. These tools make sustainability interactive, rewarding, and easy to adopt.

Transform: Our consulting team helps shape airline ESG strategy. This includes co-creating sustainability roadmaps, benchmarking against leaders like Lufthansa’s Green Fares or ANA’s Future Promise, and identifying operational improvements such as reducing food waste or enabling paperless processes. We also support transparent ESG communications aligned with CSRD and IEnvA, reducing greenwashing risk and strengthening brand trust.

Together, Triplake and Transform embed sustainability into both the passenger experience and the airline organisation.

Creative gamification ideas to explore

Looking ahead, gamification can evolve in exciting ways. Travellers could earn points for lighter luggage, directly tied to fuel savings. SAF opt-in challenges might offer bonus miles for climate-conscious choices. Eco-quizzes and pledges could unlock badges for learning and commitment, while community leaderboards allow travellers to compare eco-scores across teams or companies.

Retail flows could feature nudges for eco-meals, low-waste options, or green hotels. Post-flight feedback could invite passengers to co-create new ESG initiatives. Additionally, eco-marketplace add-ons, from bus passes to conscious dining, could make sustainable choices a natural part of the upsell experience.

These ideas help airlines build loyalty, engage customers and staff, and accelerate climate action in one unified system.

Boarding call

Airlines have the chance to turn sustainability from obligation into aspiration. By gamifying ESG, they can reduce emissions while creating communities of conscious travellers and trusted brands.