Understanding carbon offsets for corporate flight departments.

Convenience, security, safety, and staying a few steps ahead of your competition are just a few of the reasons why your company operates its own aircraft. Unfortunately, challenges accompany all those benefits. One that is becoming an increasing issue is your aircraft’s carbon footprint.

You’re undoubtedly well aware of this issue and have heard about sustainability programs. But with everything else on your plate, especially in this post-COVID travel environment, you probably haven’t had time to study up on how to implement a program in your aviation department.

4AIR clears the air about sustainability.

Creating such a program for business aircraft isn’t the same as developing one for a fleet of trucks or a manufacturing facility. You need specialized help.

That’s exactly what 4AIR provides. It is the first company dedicated to developing and implementing carbon offset programs for private and corporate aviation. In the short time since its introduction, 4AIR has quickly grown its partner base to provide carbon offset program guidance for an array of individuals, companies, corporate flight departments, Part 135 charter and jet card providers, aircraft OEMs, and airports.

As the company’s president, Kennedy Ricci, explains, 4AIR’s success reflects the fact that it offers a wide variety of solutions that can be easily tailored to meet any operator’s needs.

“We find there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what a sustainability program is and how it works for business aviation,” he states. “It can be confusing, and that often leads to flight departments putting off the implementation of a program. We simplify the process for them.”

Ricci says that a carbon offset program basically gives operators an effective way to financially offset a metric ton of carbon dioxide (mtCO2) emissions from their aircraft’s operation.

“We sit down with the operator to discuss what they are currently doing,” he explains. “There’s a lot of education that happens around starting a program like this. What are their typical flights? What kind of aircraft do they operate? Are they already using SAF [sustainable aviation fuel]? If so, how much? We build their estimated carbon footprint based on those types of things.”

Regarding SAF, Ricci says that since every gallon of SAF can have a different emission reduction factor, the calculations around the use and the actual emissions reductions realized can be complex. 4AIR simplifies that process, assists with documentation, and factors these reductions into the final offset number.

“With that total, the question is how much of their footprint do they want to offset?” he continues. “And where do they want to invest them? It’s a lot for the typical flight department to sort out. They’re busy already doing what they need to do, which is to fly.  “Our goal is to make adding sustainability into their operations simple – including which offsets to use and how much SAF to include.”

Ricci says that in many instances, the flight department relies on the experts at 4AIR to develop a complete turnkey program to achieve their specific flight department goals or align with their corporate sustainability strategy.

In instances where a larger corporation already has a carbon offset program in place for its other operations, 4AIR can work with that provider to make sure they use “aviation approved” methodology to calculate the flight department’s impact.

“Many industrial carbon offset providers don’t understand the differences in reporting and standardization with regard to aviation. We make sure they use ICAO’s 3.16 carbon intensity for fuel burn as their best-practice baseline,” Ricci explains. “And we make sure that the aviation department is getting full credit for its efforts like SAF.”

In fact, one operator shared the story that the solution offered by its sustainability consultant was to “just fly less.”

“That’s not the way we look at it,” Ricci says. “Translating some recommendations into things that work in business aviation can be challenging. But that’s what we do. Our goal is to take the complex and make it easy.

“Many of our partners just report their flight hours or fuel use to us, and we go get the appropriate carbon offset credits for them,” he continues. “If they’re already using SAF, we also figure that in to get all the emissions reduction paperwork together and bundle it up so they can easily understand what their carbon footprint is now.

Not all credits are created equal.

The next piece in the sustainability puzzle is deciding which type of carbon offset program fits with your flight department’s goals and budget. There are a lot of moving pieces.

“We help the operator understand the types of offset programs and their costs,” Ricci explains. “We find there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about these programs. They’re not just about planting trees. There are thousands of methodologies out there to use offset credits on. Wind, solar, hydro, all renewable energies, reforestation, and many more.

“Some are a lot easier to validate the impact for than others,” Ricci notes. “Our partners want to be sure that their investments are going to programs that do good. That’s our job. We do the due diligence on all the options to identify the best way to reach our partners’ goals.”

Ricci adds that 4AIR also ensures that the credits your operation buys are authenticated by one of the established verifying bodies approved by CORSIA, such as Verified Carbon Standard, Climate Action Reserve, American Carbon Registry, or the Global Carbon Council framework.

“That way, there is never any question about the validity of the credits,” he says. “Once they are redeemed, their unique identification numbers are retired and cannot be resold.  

The cost of carbon neutrality.

Like anything in business, participating in a carbon offset program has a price. And helping to clarify all the options and their costs is one of the most value-adding services 4AIR brings to its growing list of aviation partners.

Ricci says that 4AIR now offers four levels of carbon neutrality participation for operators to choose from. Level One, which is a 100 percent straight carbon offset, runs about $10 per flight hour for a turboprop and up to $40 an hour for any business jet smaller than an Embraer Lineage or a BBJ.

“Our Level Two is a 300 percent offset and includes additional credit for non-carbon emissions,” Ricci notes. “Level Three adds SAF credits to that and goes beyond neutral into the reduction of carbon emissions. Level Four includes investments in new technologies and partnering with researchers to fund advancements that will help introduce technologies like hydrogen- and electric-powered aircraft.

“Depending on the aircraft type and its usage, Level Four participation will add between $100 and $400 per hour to the operating costs,” Ricci adds. “We work with the owner/operator to determine which level of participation is best for their situation. They can always adjust as their situation changes.”

Ricci says that because participation in a carbon offset program is purely voluntary and not considered an “operational expense,” the cost isn’t tax deductible. Not yet, anyway.

4AIR takes the pressure off.

With the global push to minimize impacts on our global environment ramping up, there’s increased pressure on every business aircraft owner/operator to make sustainability changes to their operations. And as we’ve noted, doing that without disrupting or distracting your flight department from its primary responsibility is extremely challenging.

“We talk to flight department managers every day and hear the same issues,” Ricci says. “We understand the mounting pressure placed on flight department personnel today with increasing flight schedules and decreasing staff sizes. Their job is to keep the airplanes flying. We’re here to build a workable solution that is easy to implement and effective while providing the biggest and best return on that investment.

“No matter the size of the flight operation, 4AIR can be its best solution,” Ricci says. “As the first company dedicated to creating and managing sustainability programs for business aviation, we are robust in our efforts to research and provide the best and most cost-effective solution for every type of owner/operator.”