Air New Zealand Introduces Carbon Emissions Platforms for Freight and Corporate Travel

Air New Zealand has partnered with Norwegian company CHOOSE to offer two platforms to help its customers measure their carbon emissions from freight and staff air travel.

Businesses can then purchase carbon credits from certified projects based on their personalised data.

The carrier’s chief sustainability officer, Kiri Hannifin, says that in measuring its own emissions, it can also provide information customers need for their own reporting, as well as their freight and travel decisions.

She explained: “As an airline, the biggest risk to our business is climate change, and we are acutely aware of the need to reduce carbon emissions from our services. Increasingly, carbon reduction is something our corporate and cargo customers are focused on too, whether that’s motivated by their own transition strategy, mandatory reporting needs, or because their customers expect it.”

Scope 3 emissions, which includes those from freight and corporate travel, often account for a major percentage of the total but can be hard for businesses to understand as they are also largely outside the company’s direct control.

Hannifin said: “Our new emissions platforms will help customers measure and better understand the make-up of their emissions profile, as well as provide the option to purchase carbon credits from certified projects.”

Freight emissions are calculated using emissions factors aligned with New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment guidance.

Air New Zealand is the first Asia-Pacific airline to launch a cargo carbon reporting programme with CHOOOSE, whose chief executive, Andreas Slettvoll, commented: “In a world that increasingly values, demands, and expects businesses to practice environmental responsibility, companies using air freight must play their part in helping decarbonise aviation by 2050, given the sector’s significant contributions to global CO2 emissions.

“With the latest addition of both cargo and corporate emissions platforms, Air New Zealand is empowering their customers to really understand their carbon emissions and support meaningful environmental action.”