S P O T L I G H T
What is carbon offsetting?
The aviation industry is coming under increasing pressure to cut its carbon emissions.
Samantha Webb, Air BP’s global offer development manager, who focuses solely on
offsetting and sustainable fuel, addresses questions on carbon offsetting
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Carbon offsetting is used to
compensate for your emissions
by funding an equivalent amount of
emissions savings elsewhere. In aviation,
carbon offsetting starts with measuring
how many tonnes of carbon are produced
by a flight on a per passenger basis. This
creates the carbon footprint for the flight
and for each individual passenger. Once
this is measured, carbon credits can be
purchased for the same amount of
emissions, effectively balancing out
the carbon emitted so the net
impact on the climate is neutral.
Carbon credits are purchased
from projects around the
world that are reducing
emissions, including
initiatives such as forest
planting and replacing
open fires with more
efficient cooking equipment.
Whilst your individual
contribution might be small,
as a whole this makes a
significant impact. BP Target
Neutral, BP’s proactive carbon
offsetting program, has helped offset
nearly five million tons of customer carbon
emissions, which is equivalent to taking
2.5 million cars off the road for a year.
Offsetting is part of a broader
approach. It should be done in
conjunction with other actions in the
industry to reduce carbon emissions,
including improving aircraft technology,
the efficiency of aircraft operations,
improving infrastructure, and increasing
the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
It’s important you check that the
offsets you purchase come from vendors
who comply with the requirements of the
International Carbon Reduction and Offset
Alliance’s (ICROA) code of best practice.
The standards set out in the code ensure
a project’s emission reductions are
real, additional — that they would not
have happened without the project, for
example, permanent and unique. BP
Target Neutral adopts these standards.
In 2018, Air BP launched its carbon
offsetting offer for business aviation in
Brazil. Its first customer, Avantto, offset
Below: Initiatives
include forest
planting and
replacing open fires
with more efficient
cooking equipment
Left: Air BP’s carbon
offset program
is part of BP’s
commitment to
achieving a lower
carbon future
Brazil and expanded its carbon offsetting
program to two airports in the consortium
to include Jundiaí and Amarais airports
with potential to expand the offer to more
of Voa São Paulo’s locations in the future.
Air BP’s carbon offset program is
part of BP’s commitment to achieving
a lower carbon future, addressing the
dual challenge of meeting the increasing
energy the world demands, while at the
same time working to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. It complements Air
BP’s own carbon neutral plane fuelling
operations at 250 locations.
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more than 1,000 tons of carbon emissions
from June 2018 to May 2019. The
agreement with Avantto was renewed for
another year, enabling customers to offset
the emissions related to the fuel supplied
to the company by Air BP.
In August 2019, Air BP announced a
new collaboration with Voa São Paulo in
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