Lufthansa unveils flight carbon offsetting tool

Lufthansa unveils flight carbon offsetting tool

Passengers can opt to pay surcharge for sustainable aviation fuel

Airline passengers are being given a tool to track and offset their individual carbon footprint.

The Lufthansa Group sustainability platform called Compensaid combines a tracking tool for flights of all airlines worldwide with a sustainability platform that makes it possible to directly offset personal CO2 emissions.

Travellers then receive a detailed evaluation of their entire travel history, which not only includes flight distance, time and destinations, but also shows the efficiency of the respective aircraft type, individual fuel consumption, and the associated CO2 emissions.

One of the two options for CO2 offsetting includes replacing fossil aviation fuels one-to-one with sustainable aviation fuel.

The platform calculates the market-based surcharge in comparison to fossil kerosene. Travellers willing to pay this surcharge can use it to cover their individual kerosene consumption with the climate-neutral fuel.

Lufthansa Group will continue to pay the basic rate for the kerosene. The sustainable aviation fuel purchased as part of the offsetting process will be deployed on flights within a period of six months, the German airline group pledged.

Alternatively, passengers can support a reforestation project in Nicaragua in a bid to cut CO2 emissions over the long term.

Lufthansa Group head of fuel management Thorsten Luft said: “Sustainable aviation fuel is a groundbreaking way to produce sustainable kerosene.

“We are delighted to support Compensaid, an innovative platform that for the first time enables customers to invest in CO2 neutral fuel for their flights.”

Gleb Tritus, managing director of Lufthansa Innovation Hub, said: “Flying benefits our world in many different ways – it connects people, helps bridge cultural divides, intensifies business relations, and enables interactions to take place across long distances.

“But flying also has negative climate effects, which need to be counteracted – not least from a digital perspective.

“Every individual traveller can take action, With Compensaid we provide people with a tool that shows them the climate effects of their flights.

“This impact can be reduced significantly with the help of innovative technologies such as sustainable fuel.”