Jetstar’s carbon-offset program soars ahead
A report in The Age says that Jetstar passengers are at least 10 times more likely to offset the carbon emissions created by their flight compared with passengers on rival domestic airlines, with a BusinessDay analysis of the major Australian airlines finding that more than 12% of Jetstar passengers had chosen to offset.
By comparison, Jetstar’s parent airline, Qantas, said its offset figures were “less than 1%”. Virgin Blue, which in March became the world’s first airline to offer passengers a government-certified carbon-offset program, refused to reveal its take-up rate but aviation sources say the figure is at about the same level as Qantas’.
“I don’t think it is useful to compare the number of passengers offsetting their flights by airlines,” a Virgin Blue spokesman said.
All three airlines offer their offsetting program through the Federal Government’s Greenhouse Friendly program and all three are independently verified through the Australian Greenhouse Office, now the Department of Climate Change.
Australia’s newest domestic airline, Tiger Airways, is also looking at a carbon offset program for its Australian operations and throughout its international network.
The cost of the offsets is worked out per kilometre flown; they become carbon credits and are used on different projects such as the generation of renewable energy and planting trees.
Jetstar has raised $180,000 since the program’s inception in September.
A key to the success of the Jetstar offset program is in the online booking procedure. Qantas and Virgin Blue require passengers to offset flights after a booking is made but Jetstar offers the service during the booking process.
Rob Kella, chief risk officer for the Qantas Group, said the carrier was learning a few lessons from its younger subsidiary.
“We have been using Jetstar as a bit of a test bed. Given the success of the Jetstar offsetting program we will be making some changes to the Qantas program so it is easier for the passenger to offset,” he said. “We’re still pretty much around the level of the other airlines, which is less than 1%.”
Mr Kella said Qantas had provided an emissions profile to its top 200 clients to show where each one’s staff had flown and the consequential level of greenhouse gases.
“It helps them build that into their carbon footprint. A lot of companies have their own environmental offsetting arrangements — they don’t need the Qantas offset mechanisms per se and so the true Qantas participation level is probably more than 1%,” he said.
Qantas aims to save 2 million tonnes of carbon by June 2011.
A Report by The Mole from The Age
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