Green Wombat

photo:continental
"Welcome aboard Continental flight 1536 to New York’s Kennedy airport. Beer and wine are available in coach for $5 and carbon offsets can be purchased for $10. Correct change is appreciated."

That scenario will hit the skies later this summer when Continental Airlines (CAL) customers will be given the option to pay a small fee when they book their flight online to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from their flight.  Continental follows Delta (DAL), which last month launched the first U.S. airline carbon offset program, charging $5.50 for a domestic flight and $11 for an international trip.

Continental has hookup up with Sustainable Travel International, a Boulder, Colorado, non-profit, to use the carbon offset fees to finance forest preservation and renewable energy projects. "All projects have to verifiability reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to international Kyoto protocol … or they must be Green-e certified," Sustainable Travel’s site states. "Emission reductions represent a physical reduction or avoidance of emissions over what would have otherwise occurred."   

Sustainable Travel president Brian Mullis told Green Wombat that the cost of the offset fee Continental customers will pay is still being calculated. "The greenhouse gas emission calculations associated with Continental Airlines’ client’s flights will be based on the company’s fuel-efficient aircraft," he says. "Taking this approach will translate into savings on the cost of the offsets since Continental fleet generates less greenhouse gas emissions than its competitor’s fleets."

For the sake of comparison, carbon credit company TerraPass charges about $10 to offset a round trip San Francisco-New York trip.

Continental execs stress the program isn’t just another green marketing gimmick and that the airline has reduced its own greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent over the past decade by changing its operations and using electric-powered ground equipment. The airline also has placed in order for 25 of Boeing’s  (BA) new energy efficient 787 Dreamliner jet. Whether United (UAUA) will roll out a Green Carpet Club and whether American (AMR) and other U.S. airlines follows Continental’s lead remains to be seen. But with the European Union proposing to impose greenhouse gas emissions limits on airlines flying to the Continent, they will have to find one way or another to deal with air travel’s contribution to global warming.