Silverjet is First Carbon Neutral Airline

In recent months, the British have been giving their leaders a lot of grief over carbon footprints. More than just dirty shoes, these are caused by activities that emit carbon dioxide and measured by the resultant environmental damage. Air travel is a popular culprit, and both Prince Charles and Tony Blair have been called out for flying more than necessary.

In an attempt at saving face, the Prince even canceled his ski trip to Switzerland. But then his plans to fly to the U.S. to accept an environmental award caused an uproar. Responding to charges of “green hypocrisy,” Charles cut his entourage to 12 (from a reported 20) and flew on a scheduled BA flight. Still, the emissions from that flight racked up his carbon footprint, which The Mirror calculated using carbonfootprint.com to be 2,214 tons.

Too bad the Royals don’t read Luxist, which told us about Silverjet last week. The British airline, which had its inaugural flight the day before the Prince left, is the first to be “carbon neutral.” This means that they will try to reduce their damage, then offset what remains by investing in projects that reduce CO2 by the same amount (planting trees, building wind farms, etc). The flight certainly would have been posh enough—the luxury carrier is first-class only. At $1,798 a ticket, the cost of offsetting the carbon footprint is included in the fare.

Indeed, “carbon offsetting” is becoming big business in Britain. Third party specialists claiming to help companies become carbon neutral are everywhere. Both Environment Secretary David Milband and Tony Blair have spoken in  favor of them (and, incidently, both have been called out for their own big footprints.)  HSBC and Marks & Spencer have hired such companies.

However, a recent article in the Financial Times reports that companies have been warned to make sure their donations are actually causing improvements. The UK has become the first country to set standards for these schemes and only three get the official stamp in the UK: Pure The Clean Planet Trust, Global Cool, Equiclimate and Carbon Offsets. But then there’s the big question of whether carbon offsetting even helps.

Meanwhile, as reported on Mktd, Dell has become the first U.S. business to go carbon neutral. Now anyone buying a desktop PC could buy a tree for $6 to offset the emissions the computer may create.

Luxist | Silverjet Promises Carbon Neutral Flight

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