CarbonClick Partners With Leading UK Airport Group To Deliver Largest Airport Offset Programme To Date

Auckland, New Zealand. October 2021. New Zealand enviro-tech company CarbonClick announces its most recent partnership with Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the largest in the UK and ranked number one in Europe for its Environmental Social Governance Programme. Incorporating Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports, MAG collectively served 62 million passengers annually before the pandemic.

As the largest airport operator in the UK, the opportunity to make a positive impact in the fight against climate change is enormous. MAG is enabling all passengers passing through their airports to quickly and easily measure and offset the emissions from their flights with CarbonClick’s voluntary offset programme.

CarbonClick CEO Dave Rouse says, "The power of this partnership lies in delivering a highly transparent and meaningful offsetting programme to enable more climate-friendly travel. From our simple emissions calculator, travellers can immediately trace their contribution directly to impactful, verified climate projects that make a real difference to the planet." The selected projects for the MAG offsetting programme include a mix of international and local projects that address the ecological impact of deforestation and enable clean energy projects around the world.

At a local level, the MAG programme will be supporting the creation of woodlands in the Lake District with 50% of the cost of the offset going to the Woodland Carbon Code. This code is supported by the UK Government and is independently audited for full transparency. As these credits are Pending Issuance Units (PIUs), or forward credits, CarbonClick has attached the PIU to a Gold Standard international wind credit, to ensure immediate offsetting. At an international level, the other 50% will go to ‘Promoting Improved Cooking Practices’ in Nigeria, a project that manufactures and distributes cleaner, efficient cookstoves to households all over the country. This is a certified Gold Standard project that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals: no more poverty, affordable and clean energy and climate action. Their unique track and trace link will also enable passengers to see the retirement certificates for these offsetting projects and delve deeper into the positive outcomes and co-benefits.

MAG CSR and Airspace Change Director Neil Robinson said, "By offsetting emissions from their flights, passengers can make a real difference to worthwhile projects which support a sustainable future. Our partnership with CarbonClick makes carbon offsetting easy and accessible regardless of which airline you are travelling with or your final destination.”

Robinson points to high-quality carbon offsetting as being just one of the tools available to the aviation sector to work toward a greener future. "We are confident this partnership will encourage our passengers to opt-in and have a positive impact every time they fly with us."

CarbonClick’s Dave Rouse says, "With more than half of all travellers flying on airlines that don't offer a carbon offset programme, the role of airports is proving pivotal in the fight against climate change. Many airports are doing great things regarding their emissions, but when you look at a passenger's journey, over 95% of their emissions come from the flight. So, for airports who truly want to do more for the environment, this is an opportunity to tackle the impact of flying with a simple, meaningful solution that has a measurable impact on the planet."

MAG was the first airport group in the UK to be certified carbon neutral in 2016 and was earlier this year named in the top 30 of the Financial Times ‘Climate Leaders Report’ out of 300 European companies. The Group is also one of only two airport operators to sit on the UK Government's Jet Zero Council, working with Ministers and the wider sector to achieve a Net Zero industry by 2050.

Rouse says integrating sustainability practices and a Meritus carbon offset programmes across all aspects of the aviation business will enable more climate-friendly travel across the globe. This latest partnership is a strong reflection of the global momentum behind carbon offsets and joins other key CarbonClick aviation partnership; Fraport Slovenia, Galapagos Ecological Airport, Etihad Airways and Air Tahiti Nui.

Rouse looks forward to engaging as a participant at the upcoming COP26 forum where stepping up ambitions of carbon reduction is already tipped to be a hot topic at the forum. Rouse says the timing of the action to offset carbon is critical and “Now,” as countries look toward achieving their individual goals and contributing to overall global targets of the Paris Agreement. These targets are defined as keeping the global average temperature well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit any increase to a maximum of 1.5°C.

While aviation remains a critical sector for offset programmes, CarbonClick is continually evolving its offering to enable business to take a wide-reaching, genuine environmental leadership role amongst employees and customers. The most recent innovation in this space is the ‘Climate Friendly Team’ platform. This enables businesses to bring their employees on a shared sustainability journey, empowering them to start measuring, reducing and offsetting their personal carbon footprints. Staff can quickly and simply calculate their personal footprint and save it to their dashboard. From there, they receive reduction tips relevant to their footprint and can make personal carbon offset contributions. The business can see all of these actions and impact aggregated in the Team dashboard. They can also contribute a monthly offset to engage their team with the tool.

Tread lighter at work and play with CarbonClick

CarbonClick at Manchester Airport

CarbonClick at London Stansted Airport

CarbonClick at East Midlands Airport

© Scoop Media