Jonathon Counsell
Group Sustainability Officer
IAG
Group Director of Sustainability, International Airlines Group
Jonathon is a Master’s graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London and has an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.
In July 2015 Jonathon became Group Head of Sustainability for the International Airlines Group with responsibility for the group sustainability strategy across the
Groups’ five airlines Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level & Vueling. In January 2025 Jonathon was appointed IAG Group Director of Sustainability.
From August 2019 to July 2022 he was elected as the Chair of the newly formed IATA Sustainability and Environment Advisory Council.
In September 2020 Jonathon became Visiting Professor of Cranfield University to support their work enabling the aviation industry to deliver net zero
emissions by 2050.
Jonathon was also Chair of the oneworld airline alliance’s Environment Strategy Board from 2020 to 2023.
In November 2020 Jonathon became Chair of the UK Government’s Jet Zero Council’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Delivery Group.
In December 2024 Jonathon was appointed as a member of the UK Government’s Jet Zero Taskforce Experts Group.
In 2024 Jonathon was privileged to have been awarded an honorary doctorate from Cranfield University cited for his “outstanding and sustained contribution to
embedding sustainability across the aviation sector”.
In 2025 Jonathon was honoured to be awarded the Air League’s President’s Meritorious Service Award cited for his “tireless dedication and commitment to
sustainability and nurturing the next generation of talent”.
AGF Finance Summit: Aerospace Sustainability – Financing SAF
Hall 3 – AGN Theatre; Sustainable Aviation Fuel is central to near-term decarbonisation, but scaling it will require more than ambition. This session looks at the capital structures, policy incentives, pricing mechanisms and offtake models needed to
