What Is Carbon Offset And Why Does It Matter?
Public awareness of climate change is rising year after year. Most industries are looking for ways to minimise their impacts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Here are some quick facts:
Transportation accounts for 16.2% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Aviation itself is responsible for 1.9% of CO2 global emissions.
Contrails, the water vapour trails from aircraft exhausts, account for the largest share of the problem.
To address this issue, airline companies are offering their customers to “compensate for” the CO2 emissions released during their flights by “carbon offset” activities.
But, what is a carbon offset?
How does it work?
Does it really “compensate” our CO2 emissions?
In this article, I will answer these questions for the next time you decide to purchase (or not) the “carbon offset” option from your airline company.
Why do we need to “offset” carbon?
The travel and tourism industry is expected to grow substantially in the following decades.
Airline fuel demand is estimated to increase up to 2.6% per year until 2025. This will increase their share of global CO2 emissions unless they take critical mitigation actions.
In 2016, The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed on the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
CORSIA’s primary goal is to complement measures of aviation fuel efficiency with carbon offsets purchasing to achieve their CO2 reduction goals.
What does “carbon offsetting” mean?
Carbon offsets are a tool to compensate for GHG emissions. This is achieved by investing money in a project that absorbs or avoids GHG emissions that would have been released otherwise.
Customers are offered to “compensate” their flight emissions by paying an extra fee with each plane ticket purchase. This money will fund projects that capture or prevent CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Most airlines now offer the opportunity for you to voluntarily offset your flight. Some airlines offer this at the time of booking, while many will give you the choice of doing so separately from the booking.
So let’s assume you just purchased carbon offset to contribute to one tonne of CO2 released during your flight. This means the flight company will invest in a project responsible for absorbing one tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere (or preventing one tonne of CO2 from being released).
This project could be anywhere in the world, and it may involve some of the following initiatives:
Replacing fossil fuels burning with another clean energy source
Forests protection (prevent deforestation activities)
Reforestation activities
Waste reduction projects that lead to fewer methane emissions from landfills
Recovering energy from waste facilities, thus reducing fossil fuel demand
We must understand that carbon offset activities are crucial but not enough.
When we take a flight, we must understand and purchase carbon offsets; it doesn’t mean the CO2 from the plane won’t be released. It will. It’s just a better situation when compared to not buying the offset.
So let’s assume you buy an offset for a forest protection project. Your money will prevent one tonne of CO2 from being released during deforestation. With your contribution, you prevent 1 tonne of carbon from being released. But your plane is still generating GHG emissions.
The carbon uptake does not result in a net CO2 withdrawn from the atmosphere.
It leads to lower CO2 concentrations than the “not offsetting” situation.
You don’t neutralise your emissions just by purchasing a carbon offset.
Is it better than not buying it?
Yes, it is. But it is not enough!
Airline companies need to address their fuel efficiency issues and GHG reductions. They can’t rely on carbon offset. It will never lead to a carbon-neutral situation.
Airlines that offer carbon offset options in 2021
In a study presented in 2017, a total of 139 airlines were investigated to see whether they offered their customers or not the “carbon offset” option.
The results showed that 44 (31.7%) of these companies did offer the offsetting option. However, they also found that most of these companies believed that CO2 emissions from passengers “disappeared” in this offsetting.
Examples of airlines currently offering carbon offsetting on flights:
Furthermore, the industry is working towards alternatives for the future of travel. For example, Airbus has announced plans to have the first zero-emission aircraft by 2035.
Final Thoughts
Offset projects represent a significant opportunity for airline companies to reduce GHG emissions that would otherwise occur. It also leads to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
However, airline companies can’t rely on carbon offset to neutralise their emissions. Carbon offset does not reduce CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere since the aeroplane is still generating GHG emissions. These emissions accumulate in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
It is an environmentally friendly practice to buy carbon offsets from a customer perspective. It contributes to financing projects that are necessary to tackle climate change. From a company perspective, it is just an option for the customers. It can’t be the only action companies take to tackle climate change.
Carbon offset projects are necessary but not enough. We need companies to reduce their GHG emissions. This is how we will get closer to a carbon-neutral world.
References
WWF, “A comparison on Carbon Offset Standards”, 2008.
Becken, S., Mackey, B., “What role for offsetting aviation greenhouse gas emissions in a deep-cut carbon world?”, Journal of Air travel, 2017.
International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Outlook 2012, 2012.