Bombardier is highlighting its eco-friendly credentials at NBAA. The manufacturer recently selected UK offset provider Climate Care to manage its new carbon offset program.
As of February 2008, aircraft buyers will have the option to take part in a carbon-offset program, which will be included in the purchase price. Funds will be invested in green energy projects. Bombardier is also enrolling its demonstration fleet and PartsExpress aircraft in the offset program at an annual cost of around $250,000.
The airframer’s move is a signal that the business aviation industry is taking its green commitments more seriously. Mike Mason, chairman and founder of Climate Care, says: “There is a long way to go yet. We need to fix the problem and at the moment we are merely bailing our way out of trouble.”
Business aviation is far from environmentally friendly, flying many empty legs and aircraft with one or two people on board. Mason says that offsetting is the best way forward, while the industry investigates “greener” ways of conducting business. He says: “Carbon offsetting is neither scam nor panacea. It is not a perfect solution, but it is the best interim solution we can offer.”
Offsetting schemes allow companies to buy and sell emission “credits” to meet their anti-pollutant targets. Using a provision of the Kyoto protocol called the “clean development mechanism”, countries and companies can say they are reducing their emissions by investing in carbon-friendly projects in poorer countries.
Mason says that Climate Care prefers to use this method rather than investing in, for example, projects closer to home in the UK, as it may prevent developed countries from trying to exceed their emissions reductions targets.
There are other ways aviation can clean up its act. Earlier this year the International Air Transport Association set out a stringent series of targets towards an emissions-free industry by 2050. Developing new aircraft and engine technologies will make fleets 25% more-fuel efficient by 2020.
Source: Flight Daily News
