Carbon Offsetting in Business Aviation: The FAQs

As a company founded specifically to advise and assist aviation owners and operators in conducting their environmental sustainability and ESG strategies, 4Air receives many questions from BizAv operators about pursuing environmental sustainability. Kennedy Ricci, 4Air’s President, says a lot of those questions are to do with carbon offsetting.

“We usually get questions around what kinds of carbon offset projects are available, how they work, how we integrate them into a sustainability strategy – especially with an eye towards regulatory compliance – and the key differences between them and SAF," he explains.

In advising its clients about carbon offsetting and offering them customized sustainability programs which it has developed in-house and for which 4Air provides objectively calculated ratings, the company also fields questions from Business Aviation owners and operators about possible courses of further research and action on their parts regarding carbon offsetting.

In advising those customers and offering them turnkey sustainability solutions which will meet their needs and often includes subscription to carbon offsetting programs, 4Air has a tried and tested approach which it finds works well, according to Ricci.

“We start with a comprehensive assessment of their carbon emissions and try to help identify opportunities for offsets, SAF or emissions reduction,” he explains. 

“When using offsets, we always use verified carbon offsets and standards that ICAO has identified as CORSIA-approved methodologies or verification standards.”

(CORSIA stands for Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. ICAO expects CORSIA to invest a total of $40 billion in climate-enhancement projects.)

The carbon-offsetting programs in which 4Air advises its clients to subscribe “represent the more reputable programs and are the first step in selecting good carbon offset projects,” according to Ricci. “From there, we discuss what project types, methodologies and geographies might suit a particular customer’s preference.

“Finally, we make sure the strategy isn’t stagnant. Every year, we are reviewing the different project options, looking for possibilities for reductions and SAF, and exploring innovative offsetting technologies," he highlights.

However, 4Air makes clear to its customers that carbon offsetting is not in itself a complete sustainability solution, says Ricci. “We think it’s really important to contextualize offsets and where [offsetting programs] sit in an operator’s strategy. They are not the end point and don’t avoid the need for action towards longer-term solutions,” he says.

“What they are is a starting point that helps people get moving down the journey of sustainability,” notes Ricci.

“Almost all of our customers that use SAF or look at operational improvements began their journeys with offsetting.”

In the future, those customers and 4Air itself will orient their sustainability strategies and solutions to focus more on the three other development pathways the Waypoint 2050 report says the aviation industry needs to pursue to achieve net-zero carbon-emissions by 2050.

“Aviation is limited by the relatively few decarbonization options today, because even SAF does not get you to carbon-neutral status,” Ricci points out.

“The key for aviation will be a comprehensive approach that embraces multiple pillars of sustainability. Operational improvements and efficiencies in combination with SAF, offsets and new technology will be the key to an effective long-term sustainability approach.”

Carbon Offsetting: Where Misconceptions & Confusion Arise

In 4Air’s experience, several areas of confusion and misperception arise most commonly among Business Aircraft owners and operators in their understanding of how carbon offsetting works.

“The first stems from the fact that offsets can include a broad range of carbon reduction-type projects,” says Ricci. “We always help people understand what it really means to be a verified carbon offset and the multiple layers of verification that these projects have to go through.”

A second area of confusion often arises in owners’ and operators’ understanding of how regulatory factors might affect their use of carbon offsetting programs. 

“Because of differing regulatory programs, we often see questions about what types of carbon offset projects work for different programs, and how offsets differ from allowances commonly used in Emission Trading Scheme programs,” Ricci adds.

“Allowances essentially are an allowed emission of one metric ton of CO2, while an offset is an actual reduction of one metric ton of CO2, as verified by a third party.”

Another common misconception is that “people often think of offset projects as just planting trees, saving a rainforest or building a renewable energy plant, but offsets include thousands of different types of project that go beyond these traditional ones,” says Ricci.

“There are projects around reducing emissions from more efficient buildings; substitution of warming chemicals with more environmentally friendly ones; the capture and re-use of other non-CO2 warming emissions such as nitrous oxides; and even innovative projects to reduce CO2 emissions from cement production or using seaweed farms to store more CO2 in the ocean,” he notes.

“The range of offset project types goes far beyond what most people envision when thinking about offsets.”

Additionally, the nature of the carbon offsetting projects in which 4Air’s own program offerings invest will change over time, and its recommendations to its customers as to which projects they should consider investing in will change accordingly.

“As we move forward, the innovative project types that help lead to more longer-term carbon removals and storage, like direct air capture but through more efficient processes, will be a key opportunity for aviation in the longer term,” says Ricci.

“Many of the projects don’t have verification processes in place [yet], but, once they do, we will see a greater push towards those project types.”

4Air stresses to all clients potentially interested in subscribing to any carbon offsetting program that they must do their homework in making sure the individual projects in which the program invests are properly managed and monitored and that they understand that carbon offsetting is not a be-all-and-end-all in pursuing net-zero environmental sustainability.

“It’s always important that, when a company uses offsets, it contextualizes the role offsets play – what is covered, how offsets are used and the relevant calculation methodologies,” says Ricci.

“It is critical to be open and transparent about these items, in order to avoid claims of greenwashing.”

In fact, he says, “That was one of the main goals of our rating program – to standardize what exactly was being covered under a company’s program and how they were addressing their emissions, whether through SAF or offsets.

“To achieve our ratings, we make sure a company uses specific emission factors and calculations, helping make sustainability commitments more transparent, standardized, and comparable.”

Is there any justification in objections from the BizAv industry that Carbon Offsetting programs are little more than ‘greenwashing’? Continue reading this article in the AvBuyer June digital edition by clicking the link (below), or select ‘Page 3’ to continue online.