Today at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) we are launching the Climate Passport program allowing travelers to offset the impact of their air travel through an airport kiosk. This will be the world’s first airport kiosk—giving people the opportunity to calculate the environmental impact of their flights and purchase carbon offsets to address that impact while at the airport.
Where does the money go? The City has conducted extensive research on each project supported by the program to ensure that all carbon offsets are sourced from a specific project that results in real, quantifiable, permanent greenhouse gas emission reductions.
The offsets for Climate Passport customers, supplied by San Francisco based carbon firm 3Degrees, are currently sourced from the Garcia River Forest, a conservation-based forest management project located in Mendocino County, California. Formerly a heavily cut forest, this project is helping bring back Redwood and Douglas fir trees to the Garcia River Forest. As a result, huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) are absorbed and stored, and native habitats are restored and protected. Offsets from the Garcia River Forest Project are third-party verified against the Climate Action Reserve’s rigorous, transparent and comprehensive forestry protocol.
A portion of the offset sales will also go to the San Francisco Carbon Fund, helping to develop local San Francisco carbon reduction projects. The first project supported by the fund is Dogpatch Biofuels, San Francisco’s only publicly-owned biodiesel filling station. It is estimated the Dogpatch project will reduce as much as 660,000 pounds of CO2 in its first year of operation. Offsets will also help to pay for the planting of urban trees in San Francisco.
Knowing the climate impact of travel is a good first step. Taking actions like using public transportation or opting to ride a bicycle when you can is important. For the times when we have to fly, balancing your climate footprint by supporting high quality carbon reduction projects will help California in its fight against climate change.
Look for the new Climate Passport kiosks post-security on both sides of the International Terminal and in Terminal 3 at SFO.
To understand your flying impact, go to: www.sfo.3degreesinc.com. Travelers can also use the flysfo.com website to access the climate passport.
Ken O. says:
This is nice, I'll check it out next time I fly SFO.
The flight I took from SF to LA this summer was my first Virgin flight. (No jokes please.) Really enjoyed the whole experience, including ability to buy a carbon offset of the flight right there in my cow-hide seat. Slide your card and you're done. I'm willing to pay more to decrease damage I cause, but I see offsets mostly as a carbon "indulgence."
Other than that, my main offset complaint is that there is no central website to track all your offsets or see what effect they're really having -- such as with Feed the Children where you get a photo and so forth. I've bought offsets of my JetBlue flights to NY before and they send you a sticker (which I don't need) but at least there is documentation. I didn't get any info from Virgin besides a financial statement line item.
I've also donated to "plant trees" through Ikea in the checkout line, paid U-Haul to "plant trees" and joined PG&E's ClimateSmart program as well. What is the combined effect of all this? Hopefully good, but nebulous except in PG&E's case -- their forestry programs are all in California if I remember correctly.
End result: the offset becomes a salve for each corporation's "conscience" -- ie, branding. (Activists know to attack corporate brands for the biggest impact.)
Obviously the best of all possible worlds is to avoid burning fuel in the first place if possible, or do it in a greener manner. ie, solar hot water shower/ tankless water heater/ Amtrak/ staycation.
Greg I. says:
It is becoming increasingly hard fro programs like this to justify themselves and some seem to be just giving up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/science/earth/18offset.html?_r=1&hp