Srilankan’s ‘Flygreen’ carbon offset programme receives global recognition

Srilankan Airlines, which has been widely recognized for many years as a pioneer of environmental conservation in the global airline industry, has achieved the distinction of becoming one of the only six airlines worldwide to obtain the prestigious Quality Assurance Standard (QAS) accreditation for its voluntary carbon offset programme, ‘Flygreen’.

Srilankan is now authorized to display the QAS Carbon Neutral Quality Mark, demonstrating that it is using the global best practices for carbon offsetting. QAS (www. qascarbonneutral.com) is an accreditation that is awarded following a comprehensive independent audit system for companies that wish to evaluate their carbon offsets against the high standards available. The QAS audits involve a 40-point checklist to ensure that companies meet the very highest standards in the world in terms of carbon offsetting. The Flygreen programme (www.srilankan. com/environment) actively obtains the participation of the airline’s passengers, who are given the unique opportunity of voluntarily donating a prefixed amount to offset the carbon footprint of their respective flight.

These donations are then channelled through the global airline industry’s governing body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and are utilized to procure carbon offsets on behalf of Srilankan and neutralize the footprints.

At present, the offsets are sourced from two Sri Lanka eco-ventures – the Hapugastenne Mini Hydro Project and Hulu Ganga Mini Hydro Project – in order to support the country and local eco-ventures.

The stringent audit included checks on areas such as providing passengers with full access to the airline’s carbon calculation information, carbon offset project information, price per ton of carbon dioxide and passengers’ Q&AS, review of the airline’s carbon calculation data, rapid retirement of carbon credits and confirmation of total volumes of carbon credits sold to passengers.

Sri Lankan’s Flygreen has already been recognized by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), a coalition of organisations within the global air transport industry, as one of the 100 best aviation climate solutions in the world.