February 26th, 2007, by Mary Winston Nicklin
Silverjet: The First Carbon Neutral Airline
That’s right. The low-fare luxury airline, which offers exclusive, premium class service between London and Newark, is environmentally friendly. The UK-based carrier builds carbon offsetting into the price of every ticket. This mandatory carbon offset contribution is invested by the airline’s climate consultancy partner, The CarbonNeutral Company, to ensure that every tonne of CO2 associated with your flight is matched by one tonne saved through climate friendly projects around the world. Examples of projects supported by Silverjet to neutralize its carbon impact are:
Jamaican energy efficient project- subsidises the cost of energy efficient lightbulbs to encourage use. Benefits to the island include less dependence on depleted oil reserves and less power cuts, which in turn promotes the prime industry- tourism. New Zealand wind farm- one of the few gold standard carbon offset projects worldwide, this provides an alternative to non-sustainable power sources. US methane- methane is 23 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, and it leaks from many disused mines. This project captures methane and ‘flares’ it which converts methane into CO2.
Wow. Now if only the other airlines would follow Silverjet’s example.
Related Articles:
Frommer’s, “How to See the Planet and Save It at the Same Time”
Terrapass
And here’s the first destination club to go Carbon Neutral http://www.sherpareport.com/destination-clubs/bellehavens-carbo-neutral.html
As we wrote this article, it got us thinking - is the luxury destination club model overall a more environmentally friendly form of vacationing ?
After all for many folks the alternative would be to buy their own second, third or even fourth home. But instead, by joining a destination club they get to share homes all over the world.
There’s certainly a strong green argument there. I’d be interested in your thoughts.
Regards
Sherpa