Airline Offers Carbon Offsets to Mitigate Travel Footprint
August 31st, 2007
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.
Tags: airline carbon emissions carbon offsets pollution qantasEntry Filed under: Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2 Comments Add your own
1. Sean O | September 6th, 2007 at 12:07 am
I write about this a lot on my site that covers global warming (http://www.globalwarming-factorfiction.com) and I am typically very skeptical of carbon trading schemes.
P.T. Barnum supposedly said that there was a sucker born every minute. Sometimes, when I read about carbon credits, I am not sure who the sucker is - the person buying, the person selling, or the general public for thinking it is helping!
In order for credits to be feasible and to be more than a “feel good” gesture, we need solid accounting, accountability, and penalties. We have none of that now. We cannot allow credits to be used for minor contributions to a project. The credit must go to the cost of reducing the greenhouse gas.
2. Hugh | October 6th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Sean is right on the money… the only satisfactory approach is the imposition of swingeing carbon taxes - not just on carbon but on carbon dioxide equivalents - such as fluorocarbon refrigerants and other substances with high GWP. Funds so derived should be corralled from ‘General Revenue’ and used to fast track carbon/energy reduction programs. Fat Chance…, I suspect that the antarctic will melt before USA, Australia and many other countries will acknowledge such a move (- many northern Europe countries already have carbon taxes - and have had them for years) .
‘Read my lips …. no new taxes” … Bush Snr.
and we are still reading….
Given the speed at which the arctic ice sheet is thinning - well before the modeller’s predicted time frames, underscores the urgency of taking action here
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/science/earth/02arct.html
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