British Airways offers option to buy carbon removals credits to take CO2 out of atmosphere

BA believes it offers passengers the widest ‘portfolio of options to address their emissions’

Blue sky thinking: British Airways ‘Better World” Airbus A320 aircraft (British Airways)

Passengers flying on British Airways now have the option to pay for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere.

BA is now selling carbon removal credits. The airline already offers options to pay for verified carbon offsets and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Customers can choose on a sliding scale what proportion of their spend they wish to allocate to carbon removal or offsetting, and how much for SAF.

The SAF option is more expensive. According to the online calculator at ba.com, the maximum a passenger would pay if they selected 100 per cent SAF is £2,165, for a first-class return from London to Sydney.

For carbon removal, the cost is £367. These contributions are entirely voluntary.

Carbon removal credits are issued by projects that remove CO2 from the atmosphere or from the carbon cycle.

Examples include the “Blue Carbon” mangrove revegetation project in the Indus delta of Pakistan, where plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

BA says: “The credits are recognised by scientists, governments and regulators as a vital tool in helping to address climate change.”

British Airways is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. It already offsets the carbon emissions on all its flights within the UK.

Carrie Harris, director of sustainability at British Airways, said: “It’s important that we give customers options.

“We know that over time, scientifically the expectation is that you move from offsets to removals.

“By choosing carbon removals projects as part of their action to address the emissions associated with flying, our customers are not only joining us on our journey to a more sustainable future, but also helping accelerate the development of the vital carbon removal industry.”

Helen Coffey, travel editor of The Independent and author of Zero Altitude: How I Learned to Fly Less and Travel More, said: “Carbon removal schemes are certainly preferable to other types of offsets when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint, according to climate scientists.

“But, while it’s good to see consumers encouraged to contribute to removals projects, the reality is we all need to be flying less if we’re going to reach net zero by 2050.

“No amount of offsetting can get around the fact that the emissions-intensive aviation industry still has no clear pathway to decarbonising in the next 28 years. The best thing we can do as climate-conscious travellers is reduce the number of flights we take as much as humanly possible - reduce first, then offset.”