Business Traveller (Middle East)
RESPONSIBLE TRAVELLER
Industry initiatives designed to give back to the planet
ETIHAD AIRWAYS is increasing its purchase of carbon offsets, while at the same time, moving ahead with a programme that will allow passengers to purchase additional offsets for their flights.
The airline, which purchased 80,000 tonnes of carbon offsets in November, is expanding this programme beyond the original Makame Savannah REDD project in Tanzania to include Peru’s Cordillera Azul National Park and Indonesia’s Katingan Mentaya Project.
By 2021, the Cordillera Azul project aims to have protected 1.6 million hectares of threatened forest and 28 high conservation value species, supported
716 jobs and created or supported 25 sustainable enterprises, while the Katingan Mentaya Project protects 149,800 hectares of peat swamp forest and vital habitats for five critically endangered species, including Bornean orangutans, southern Bornean gibbons and proboscis monkeys. Both projects are certified by the Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard.
Etihad has purchased the offsets through Shell, which has launched a platform to trade REDD+ forestry credits.
REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and the + signifies the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
Shell has committed to invest US$300 million in nature-based solutions – projects that protect, transform or restore land – over the next three years. In this way, nature absorbs more CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. These projects can lead to the marketing, trading and sale of carbon credits.
Tony Douglas, CEO, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “Exactly one year ago, we committed to a sustainable future with the very real, tangible objective to be completely carbon neutral by 2050 and to reduce CO2 emissions to 50 per cent of 2019 levels by 2035.
“Since then, the aviation industry has been completely transformed by the COVID-19 crisis, however our commitment to sustainability has never wavered. We have since introduced and led a number of industry-leading sustainability initiatives to further drive and promote carbon neutrality, of which today’s announcement is just the latest.”
Anna Mascolo, President, Shell Aviation, said until sustainable aviation fuel and technology solutions had been developed and deployed at scale, offsetting was not a choice, but a necessity.
“This agreement [with Etihad] is a great example of action that can be taken today to engage multiple parties in accelerating aviation’s pathway to net zero emissions,” she added.
Etihad Airways has also revealed new elements of its upcoming voluntary customer offset programme. The airline is working with New Zealand Carbon Offsetting company Carbon Click, “a platform that uses certified Gold Standard offsets to reduce the climate impact of aviation through ethical, fully traceable reforestation and renewable energy projects”, to develop the programme.