Cathay Pacific is taking the lead in aviation’s sustainability efforts in Asia with the extension of Fly Greener to its air cargo services. Fly Greener is a carbon-offset programme powered by an integrated carbon emissions calculator, as part of the airline’s commitment to tackling climate change by achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The new carbon emissions calculator works out the carbon emissions of shipments and the cost to offset them in just a couple of simple steps. Customers can then make a contribution to purchase carbon offsets that come from carefully selected carbon-offset projects. All selected projects are certified under the Gold Standard to ensure their carbon reductions are verified, and come with societal and developmental benefits.
The carbon-offset programme follows the launch earlier this year of Cathay Pacific’s Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Programme, which brings SAF into Hong Kong International Airport for the first time in history. It provides corporate customers the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint from business travel and air cargo shipments by contributing to the use of SAF. Cathay Pacific was also among the first carriers in the world to announce a target of 10 per cent SAF in its total fuel use by 2030.
Customers have already been able to estimate their potential carbon emissions by searching for flight connections with the emission calculator on cathaypacificcargo.com, but now registered customers using the website will be able to offset their shipments by air waybill (AWB) number. Users can enter five AWB numbers at a time, but can submit as many applications as required over any monthly period. The tool, which uses the latest IATA methodology, will show the volume of emissions and display the offset charge in local currency, calculated by weight, and aircraft type.
After each submission, customers will be sent a spreadsheet showing the totals carried and claimed, plus the carbon-offset calculation. They will also receive a monthly statement displaying all submissions from the previous month and the total to be settled. Customers will then receive a certificate showing the offset total and the project they have supported, for their own sustainability auditing processes.
The monetary contributions go directly to fund third-party validated projects that help to offset the CO2 generated by shipments, through carbon credits bought by Cathay Pacific and passed on to customers at cost. The airline makes no profit in the carbon-offset transactions.
The scheme currently supports four projects which bring fuel-efficient cooking stoves to families in Bangladesh, solar-powered hot water to households in India, and solar-powered cooking stoves and small biogas plants to families in the Chinese Mainland. You can read more about the carbon-offset projects here.
