Super flier could lead the way in carbon offsetting
The Air New Zealand super flier, who clocked up 639,000km of winged travel in 2018, is either a carbon hero or a carbon guzzler. Based on the statistical uptake of Air New Zealand’s worldleading voluntary carbon offset scheme, the super flier is, in all probability, the latter.
Travelling 639,000km on planes has a massive impact on the environment, but Air NZ lets fliers pay to ‘‘offset’’ their share of the carbon emitted by the planes they fly on.
Less than 5 per cent of people opt to pay more, however.
If you ask your friends and acquaintances whether they pay offsets on their flights, you could be forgiven for being sceptical if they say ‘‘yes’’.
As UMR research found, people who talk loudest about climate change are often not the ones taking meaningful steps to reduce their carbon footprints.
The super traveller, who surely must have been travelling for business, did the equivalent of 15 circuits of the globe with his, or her, 371 flights.
That is likely to mean they (or the company they were working for) were responsible for emitting a massive amount – more than their share of the 7.7 tonnes per capita Kiwis are responsible for (2014 figures).
Doing a return trip from Auckland to London Heathrow results in per traveller carbon emissions of 2.936 tonnes, Air NZ’s carbon offset calculator shows.
Air NZ would charge $68.12 to offset that.
At that price, the super flier (or perhaps the business they work for) would have had to stump up $1185 to offset their air travel emissions.
Offsetting results in two things happening.
Most of the money paid goes to fund a project somewhere that takes carbon out of the atmosphere, like planting trees.
But paying for a carbon offset is, remarkably, a taxable event. The IRD takes a slice of the payment each traveller makes, though if it is a business paying the offset, they get to count it as a you tax-deductible business cost.
Air NZ’s Sustainability report makes sobering reading.
In it, Sir Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the airline’s Sustainability Advisory Panel, said: ‘‘Air New Zealand already has one of the most successful voluntary offset schemes in the aviation industry, but I hope my fellow travellers on Air New Zealand flights will not mind me pointing out that at under 5 per cent of customer journeys, that’s disappointing.’’
The report explains the programme like this: ‘‘A tonne of carbon can be offset by a carbon credit which represents one tonne of carbon (or equivalent greenhouse gas) emissions reduced or removed from the atmosphere by a verified project. In New Zealand, we work with forest carbon specialists Permanent Forests NZ to source native forest restoration projects.’’
Air NZ has also expanded its efforts to support sustainable energy initiatives in rural New Caledonia, Vietnam and China. It has also been working hard to get fliers to offset, but has stopped short of going carbon neutral by including offsets with all flights.
‘‘In late 2016, we prioritised carbon offsetting in our online booking system, so that New Zealand travellers could offset the emissions from their Air New Zealand flights. In the past year, customers have offset over 130,000 journeys (up from close to 40,000 last year),’’ it said in its sustainability report.
Wouldn’t the super flier be the poster child for offsetting, if he or she turned out to be an offsetter, and decided to go public?
Statistically speaking, probably shouldn’t hold breath for that to happen. we our