Airline Offers Carbon Offsets to Mitigate Travel Footprint

How far can we carry carbon offsets, and will they really work?

Qantas and some of the other airlines are allowing passengers to purchase carbon offsets to neutralize the emissions from their air travel.

The pollution emitted by Qantas aircraft will be offset partly by a carbon credit program to be launched by the Flying Kangaroo in September.

Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti announced that consumers and businesses would be able to purchase carbon credits to offset their carbon dioxide emissions.

Mr. Borghetti did not elaborate on how much the offsets would increase the price of a ticket but Qantas would cover the charge for its first day of the scheme’s operation.

“For the first 24 hours we will totally fund the emissions on our domestic and international operations,” Mr. Borghetti said.

On the other hand, Volkswagen of America plans to offset the carbon emissions of projected consumer use for a year. From September 1, 2007, until January 2, 2008, vehicles sold by Volkswagen will have carbon emissions offset for the first year of ownership.

In addition, the Volkswagen site will show the carbon footprint calculation of vehicles alongside statistics on fuel efficiency, speed, and price, when they use the “Build a VW” feature, according to VW.

The offsets, from Carbonfund.org, will support the land acquisition and reforestation of 1,100 acres of habitat in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Louisiana. The offsets will be based on the average annual emissions for each different type of model sold in the four-month period.

So does this change behavior, or just put off the inevitable? Stakeholders in industry and non-governmental organizations will be watching and the results are sure to fuel more debate soon.

2 comments August 31st, 2007