Special Reports - Enviroment
Offset credits deal for Qantas
September 1st 2012
Qantas Airways has signed a deal to buy up to 1.5 million offset credits over five years to meet part of its liabilities under Australia’s carbon pricing scheme and offer voluntary offsets to passengers. The country’s domestic airlines were brought under the country’s carbon pricing scheme in July. Read More »
Qantas’s offsets will be generated from managing Henbury Station, a 500,000 acre property in the Northern Territory, in which owners R. M. Williams hope to store up to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.
“How many credits we buy depends on take-up of our voluntary carbon offset programme,” said a Qantas spokesman. “We have typically purchased around 300,000 tonnes of carbon credits per year under the voluntary programme. We would expect to be able to source a majority of this from Henbury in future.”
The Henbury project is seeking eligibility under Australia’s Carbon Farming Initiative, which would allow it to earn offsets that could cover some of Qantas’ liability. Some credits would be offered to passengers seeking to voluntarily offset the carbon footprint of flights with Qantas and its low-cost offshoot, Jetstar.
Qantas said its voluntary offset programme had cut emissions by 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent since 2007. According to the Australian government, Henbury Station could earn carbon credits by removing cattle from the area to encourage re-vegetation, which will in turn remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store the greenhouse gases in the soil and native plants.
