Hong Kong’s home airline, Cathay Pacific, is set to lead in aviation sustainability’s efforts with extending Fly Greener to its air cargo services as part of their sustainability initiatives to offset carbon emissions and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
This comes after the airline ramped up efforts for tackling climate change with Fly Greener, a carbon-offset programme powered by an integrated carbon emissions calculator that funds Gold Standard carbon-reduction projects with a social component.
The new carbon emissions calculator for air cargo works out the carbon emissions of shipments and the cost to offset them in a couple of simple steps.
“The carbon emissions calculator is another tool we have made available to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets to make our business and our industry more sustainable. In tandem with our promotion and development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel capabilities, the calculator will give our customers flexibility to offset their carbon emissions via a suite of accredited carbon offset projects,” said George Edmunds, the group’s Cargo Commercial Manager.
Registered customers will now be able to offset their shipments by air waybill (AWB) number through the airline’s website cathaypacificcargo.com.
Users can enter five AWB numbers at a time but can submit as many applications as required over any monthly period.
Using the latest IATA methodology, the tool will show the volume of emissions, and display the offset charge in local currency, calculated by weight, and aircraft type.
In the launch phase, the carbon emissions calculator will take retrospective AWB numbers.
Built into Cathay Pacific Cargo’s online booking and confirmation platform, Click & Ship, customers will be able to add offsets directly to their bookings in a one-click process.
The airline’s carbon-offset projects certified under the Gold Standard include bringing fuel-efficient cooking stoves to families in Bangladesh, solar-powered hot water to households in India, and solar-powered cooking stoves and small biogas plants to families in the Chinese Mainland.
Fly Greener, the airline’s offset programme gives passengers the chance to purchase offsets based on the CO2 emissions generated by the flight.
The group’s Fly Greener initiative was introduced with the requirements laid out in the in the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Paris Agreement with focus on aligning their strategy – from fleet planning and carbon offsetting to further investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuel and the development of new technologies.
Additionally, the airline is increasing its use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) with the aim of making it viable for “mainstream adoption”.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is converted from waste, such as municipal waste, used cooking oil and agricultural residue for reducing carbon footprint from business travel and air cargo shipments.
The UAE launched the roadmap to decarbonise the country’s aviation industry earlier this year.
The Group, which includes Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, Air Hong Kong, and HK Express emitted 7.59 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020, a drop of 59 percent from 2019 because of the pandemic.
Cathay Pacific is also among the first carriers in the world to announce a target of 10 percent SAF in its total fuel use by 2030.
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