I just read some news over at About My Planet about Virgin Air’s new Offset Program. People flying on Richard Branson’s airline can pay extra money that will go towards green projects in Indonesia and India. Here’s a snip from About My Planet, my favorite part is in bold.
The airline has partnered with myclimate to offer the scheme which is now available onboard and online, and will benefit projects in Indonesia and India including developing a power plant which turns farming waste like sugar cane husks into electricity for the local community.
Endorsed by 49 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) worldwide including many environmental groups, Gold Standard credits are independently validated and only support renewable energy or energy efficiency technologies (no tree planting or gas flaring).
Virgin Atlantic has also calculated exactly how much carbon is produced for each of its flights and had this verified through Greenhouse gas verification company, CICS. The airline then calculated how much this would equate to for each passenger by taking into account the different weights of equipment and seats in each class of travel, and also the amount of cargo on each route. So Upper Class passengers pay more than Economy passengers because their seat and Inflight Entertainment monitors are significantly heavier.
It’s good to be poor, let those Richers pay extra to green up their lush and comfortable seats.
