Bangkok--19 Aug--Thai Airways
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to provide passengers with the opportunity to offset carbon generated from flying. THAI is the first airline in the Asia Pacific to join the program.
ACM Narongsak Sangapong, THAI’s Acting President, said that following the signing of the MoU, THAI will work with IATA to implement offsets into its existing web sales structure and to identify the offset projects that will benefit from this initiative. Once set up, passengers will be able to decide whether they wish to compensate their emissions when booking flights on THAI’s website. Information about CO2 emitted for that flight will be provided, in addition to information about the cost of offsetting that amount of CO2 and the project where the money will be invested.
The IATA-administered industry-wide carbon offset program is a ready-made tool enabling airlines to offer passengers the ability to compensate for carbon emissions with contributions towards carbon reduction projects in developing countries. Carbon emissions as described in IATA’s program are calculated based on a methodology developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The system utilises the efficiencies and reliability of IATA’s long-established financial systems to enable airlines and their passengers to purchase tickets and carbon offset at the same time.
The IATA Carbon Offset Program only invests in UN-approved Certified Emissions Reductions (CER) projects and voluntary credits which comply with the recognised Gold and or Voluntary Carbon Standards. The passenger contribution goes entirely to the sponsored project. Transparency is critical to ensure that money collected results in reduced emissions, and IATA’s offset program has been independently approved by UK’s carbon offset quality assurance scheme.
The adoption of IATA’s Carbon Offset Program reaffirms that THAI is highly committed to environmental responsibility and sets a good example of industry leadership in offering customers the option to offset emissions resulting from air travel.