Hogg Robinson Group and other travel management companies in Australia and New Zealand are offering large corporate clients FlightPortal, a new solution that tracks a client's air emissions by extracting, aggregating and formatting the client's booked air data from global distribution systems and issuing a report. Clients then can offset their carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits through the tool's developer, Australian-based Climate Friendly, which also calculates the offset pricing.
"For the first time, companies can now manage global flight emissions in a simple, automated way and support sustainable development while they do business," according to Climate Friendly CEO Freddy Sharpe.
Created in 2003, Climate Friendly offers businesses and individuals opportunities to offset their carbon emissions. Through its Web site, Climate Friendly customers can download and submit a data worksheet that calculates air and car emissions, and energy and waste consumption. They then can offset that amount by paying Climate Friendly.
Carbon emissions from air travel are calculated from fuel burn, based on the per-seat fuel consumption published by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Climate Friendly's tool also calculates "the non-CO2 warming impacts of flying, including the impact of releasing these at high altitudes."
According to Climate Friendly, reports are provided at "no cost" to the TMCs. "It's an opportunity to enhance their own corporate social responsibility reputation and meet increasing client demand for complete carbon solutions," said Sharpe.
"An increasing number of clientsare looking to us to help with measuring and offsetting flight emissions," according to a statement attributed to Wayne Swaysland, CEO of Australian TMC Travelforce. Travelforce "helped to pioneer" the solution, according to Climate Friendly, and, as a result, other Australian TMCs have signed on to offer the tool, including Bay Travel Group, Goldman Travel Corp., Travel Edge, World Business Travel and others. New Zealand's Atlantic Pacific American Express, an Amex affiliate, also is using Climate Friendly to help corporate clients.
Climate Friendly said clients and TMCs are not asked to pay additional service fees; clients only pay for their offsets. Climate Friendly claims to provide "offset projects spanning wind, solar, microhydro, sustainable biomas and geothermal across Asia, Europe and the Pacific region." It also provides corporate clients with "a dedicated account manager" who helps to select offset projects and provides offset invoices, certificates and carbon reports at preferred intervals.
World Wildlife Fund endorsed FlightPortal, using the company to offset flights in more than 50 global offices, according to Climate Friendly. Other clients include government agencies, "climate scientists" and other Australian companies.
HRG won the Corporate Social Responsibility Award at the Business Travel and Meetings Show in February for its own carbon offsetting calculator, and both American Express Business Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travelpartnered with CarbonNeutral Co. to offset air emissions. BCD Travel clients can offset through Germany-based Atmosfair and Egencia clients through TerraPass.
Amid growing interest, tracking and offsetting flight emissions still is considered to be in its infancy. "This industry has shown real leadership and embraced this issue much earlier than others and for that you are collectively to be applauded," said Andrew Zolli, author and Pop!Tech executive director speaking this month at an Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference in Chicago. "There are legitimate and structural issues with carbon offsets--the way they're measured, monitored and accounted for globally is very complicated with some, unfortunately, challenging issues. We will get better at automating carbon offsets. This industry can play a real leadership role in making sure they're done right."