We’re very proud to offer our customers a travel offsetting service that ensures their travel-related CO₂ emissions are managed properly. This is made possible through our partnership with Cool Effect, a California-based non-profit organisation known for scientifically triple-verifying the projects they source and manage.

In a post-pandemic world, managing business travel comes with unique challenges. Staff wellbeing and duty of care remain critical for many businesses, but reducing the carbon impact of corporate travel has become a major priority as well.

Why businesses need to trust high-quality travel offsets

It’s been said that when one is traveling, it’s the journey that matters most, not the destination. Summer is always a busy time for travel, and this year is no different—airlines predict a record 271 million passengers this summer alone. And all this travel, for both business and pleasure, will continue to contribute to rising carbon emissions in major ways.

Here are just a few points that can help illustrate the tremendous impact travel of all kinds has on the planet:

• Yellowstone National Park is responsible for nearly 2.4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year, but 90% of those emissions are generated entirely by people traveling to and from the park.
• A seven-day trip to Disney World creates nearly 2.2 tons of CO2e a person but only 5% of that is created by actual park activities. The remaining 95% comes from the travel to and from.
• Corporate travel represents 30% of all travel spend, yet only 17% of 328 global companies have credible plans to reduce those emissions.

Studies also show that nearly 80% of organisations believe that in-person meetings, events, and conferences are crucial to their ongoing success. We’re a social species, we thrive on face-to-face connection, and sometimes a video call just won’t do. While each business works to decarbonise while also staying profitable, we need to consider all of the tools we have to reduce emissions. One of those tools is a high-quality carbon credit.

Many airlines are doing what they can to decarbonise by reducing waste, creating more efficient routes, and investing in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). But, right now, the supply of SAF is limited and very expensive. There are also challenges with distribution of the fuel. The government wants at least 10% of the airline industry to fly on sustainable fuel by 2030, with a 100% goal set by 2050, but until infrastructure is able to scale up, we’re years, if not decades, away from truly sustainable air travel.

Many major airlines understand the importance and urgency of this problem and are setting aggressive goals to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. They’re also taking immediate actions—deploying more fuel-efficient aircraft, turning to clean energy-powered vehicles for their ground crew, increasing sustainable fuel implementation where possible, and even working on some innovative, wildly unique new aircraft designs.

Businesses and individuals are also taking tremendous steps to reduce their travel-related carbon footprint (as all businesses and individuals should), like flying non-stop, choosing coach over business or first class, prioritising airlines that utilise biofuels, or simply encouraging travellers to pack lighter. But some emissions simply cannot be avoided.

This is where high-quality travel offsets, composed of high-quality carbon projects, can make a tremendous impact on not just rising emissions, but on people’s lives. But as their popularity grows, issues of trust, transparency, and integrity have grown right along with them.

To better address these issues, a growing number of organisations are working hard to ensure that travel offset programs (and carbon credits in general) are vetted, verified, and credentialed, making it easier for buyers to identify those of the highest integrity. While standards like VCS, Gold Standard, and the Climate Action Reserve have existed for years, businesses and individuals still had to evaluate the efficacy of a carbon credit which added a level of nuance and complexity that most simply don’t have the time or expertise to decipher.

In 2016, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) launched as a global initiative to address the aviation industry’s impact. Using a market-based approach, its goal is to help maintain carbon neutral growth from 2020 onward, primarily through the use of high-quality carbon credits. Airlines are required to report their emissions, and will have to buy emissions reduction offsets from other sectors to compensate for any increase.

But much like carbon credits in general, CORSIA is not a magic solution; it is designed to complement other emissions reduction strategies such as increasing fuel efficiency and operational improvements. CORSIA provides much-needed centralised standards and benchmarks for the aviation industry as a whole, making it easier for airlines to find and identify verifiable emissions reducing projects.

It’s been estimated that decarbonising the entire aviation industry by 2050 would take around $175 billion annually—or almost $5 trillion when all is said and done. Meanwhile, flight totals continue to rise, emissions rise right alongside, and the clock is running out on the amount of time we have to keep our planet’s rising temperature in check.

We need trustworthy, actionable climate solutions, and we need them now. High-quality carbon credits and their associated travel offset programs can not only help you meet your business goals, but also do a world of good for the planet. Right now, indigenous peoples and local communities (largely located in areas of extreme poverty) help maintain 36% of the world’s forests and 80% of its biodiversity, and carbon credits remain the best existing tool we have to provide private finance to these vulnerable communities around the world who need it most.

Travel offsets are not a magic solution to aviation’s impact on the planet. But when they’re composed of trusted, verified, and high-quality carbon credits, they can not only make a real impact on the planet, they can make a real impact on the lives of communities around the world. When your business takes action for the planet with high-quality travel offsets, you’re not just protecting the planet, you’re helping protect what makes travel truly worthwhile in the first place.

Article by Jodi Manning, CEO of Cool Effect.