United Airlines signs up first corporate customer for its carbon offset programme
The GreenTrees’ ACRE project in the Mississippi River Valley (photo: STI)
Fri 31 Jul 2015 – Wyndham Worldwide has become the launch partner for United Airlines’ Eco-Skies CarbonChoice corporate carbon offset programme. This will enable the international hospitality company to track and offset the emissions stemming from its business travel and freight shipments on United at the enterprise level. Participating customers in the programme receive customised carbon emissions reports and can purchase independently verified offsets, effectively allowing them to travel and ship carbon neutral, says United. Through United’s partnership with Sustainable Travel International, the offsets enable participants to support projects designed to reduce greenhouse gases as well as provide social and economic benefits to communities where those projects are located.
“As the only US airline to offer a corporate carbon offset programme, CarbonChoice represents another way for us to broaden and partner with our customers on environmental initiatives outside of our normal business relationship,” said United’s Managing Director of Environmental Affairs, Angela Foster-Rice.
The programme uses actual flight level data that recognises aircraft type, routes, fuel consumption, payload and customer-specific business travel and cargo shipments on United.
Wyndham has been named to both the Dow Jones North America and World Sustainability Indices, the world’s largest global environmental disclosure system. It is also rated among the 2015 World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Magazine, Corporate Responsibility magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens and DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity.
The carbon offsets to be purchased by Wyndham will be invested in the GreenTrees' Advanced Carbon Restored Ecosystem (ACRE) project along the Mississippi River Valley. To date, over 36 million trees have been planted on nearly 100,000 acres along the Mississippi Alluvial.
The CarbonChoice programme also includes forest conservation projects in Peru and California, and a wind power project in Texas.
