JetBlue could soon become the first carbon neutral airline in the U.S. Tomás Del Coro / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Discount airline, JetBlue, plans to be the nation's first airline to be carbon neutral when it begins in July to purchase carbon offsets for all of its flights, according to CBS News.
<p>"Air travel connects people and cultures, and supports a global economy, yet we must act to limit this critical industry's contributions to climate change," said Robin Hayes, JetBlue's CEO in a <a href="https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/43347-JetBlue-Prepares-its-Business-for-a-New-Climate-Reality" target="_blank">press release</a>. "We reduce where we can and offset where we can't. By offsetting all of our domestic flying, we're preparing our business for the lower-carbon economy that aviation – and all sectors – must plan for."</p>
<p>JetBlue also announced that starting in July all of its flights departing from San Francisco International Airport will run on "sustainable" fuel.</p><p>The sustainable fuel it will purchase is made by Neste. Called MY Renewable Jet Fuel, the fuel is made 100 percent from waste and residue raw materials. It's fully compatible with existing jet engine technology. The JetBlue <a href="https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/43347-JetBlue-Prepares-its-Business-for-a-New-Climate-Reality" target="_blank">press release</a> says that throughout its lifecycle, the "sustainable" fuel has a carbon footprint that is up to 80 percent smaller that fossil jet fuel.</p><p>JetBlue will invest in carbon offsets, by donating money to environmental projects including forest conservation; capturing and reusing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane" rel="noopener noreferrer">methane</a> gas emitted from landfills; and developing solar and wind farms in areas that would otherwise rely on fossil fuels for energy, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jetblue-to-power-some-flights-with-sustainable-jet-fuel-and-offset-emissions-from-domestic-flights/" target="_blank">CBS News</a> reported.</p><p>While the company did not disclose the cost, it did say buying carbon offsets would not force the airline to raise prices. </p>
<p>"This is the cost of doing business," said a JetBlue spokeswoman in an email to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jetblue-to-power-some-flights-with-sustainable-jet-fuel-and-offset-emissions-from-domestic-flights/" target="_blank">CBS News</a>. "We've always anticipated customer's need and expectations — from TV to leg room. From a business perspective this is similar. The difference is that in addition to answering our customers' needs, it also addresses an urgent societal issue, growing emissions."</p><p>The airline produces over 8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. The company is working on a plan to compensate for international flights, said Sophia Mendelsohn, JetBlue's head of sustainability, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/jetblue-takes-steps-to-become-first-carbon-neutral-u-s-airline" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a> reported.</p><p>The move to buy offsets now also makes financial sense as the demand for carbon offsets increases with public pressure. </p><p>"By purchasing these now, we're ostensibly locking in a hedge against rising CO2 prices," said Mendelsohn as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/jetblue-takes-steps-to-become-first-carbon-neutral-u-s-airline" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a> reported. Other U.S. carriers purchase offsets on a far more limited basis.</p>
<p>JetBlue is following in the footsteps of Europe's second-largest discount airline, EasyJet, which announced in November that it would be the first airline to offset emissions from its flights, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/jetblue-takes-steps-to-become-first-carbon-neutral-u-s-airline" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a>.</p>
<p>The idea of buying offsets draws criticism from environmentalists who see it as a way to throw money at a problem that really requires a change in behavior. Kevin Anderson, a climate change researcher, has <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/the-inconvenient-truth-of-carbon-offsets-1.10373" target="_blank">written</a> that "offsetting is worse than doing nothing" because it allows people and companies to continue emitting greenhouse gasses without feeling the need to change their behavior, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jetblue-to-power-some-flights-with-sustainable-jet-fuel-and-offset-emissions-from-domestic-flights/" target="_blank">CBS News</a> reported.</p>
<p>However, others praise the company for acknowledging the detrimental impact of its carbon footprint, looking to address it, and to support sustainable fuels. Mark Jaccard, a longtime climate policy researcher and author of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/citizens-guide-to-climate-success/49D99FBCBD6FCACD5F3D58A7ED80882D" target="_blank">The Citizen's Guide to Climate Success</a> told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jetblue-to-power-some-flights-with-sustainable-jet-fuel-and-offset-emissions-from-domestic-flights/" target="_blank">CBS News</a>, "We need more airlines talking like this, and that is really nice."</p>
<p>JetBlue is working with consultants at EcoAct and South Pole, as well as Carbonfund.org, a nonprofit organization that's funded carbon-reduction and tree-planting projects across more than 40 states and 20 countries to help direct its offsets, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/jetblue-takes-steps-to-become-first-carbon-neutral-u-s-airline" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a> reported.</p><p>"We have put an incredible amount of rigor behind making sure these are real, they're legitimate, they're auditable, they're traceable," Mendelsohn said, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/jetblue-takes-steps-to-become-first-carbon-neutral-u-s-airline" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a> reported. "We selected a carbon offset partner with a long-term reputation that's survived the squalls of carbon offsetting ups and downs."</p>
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<p>Even in coach and in the airport terminal, JetBlue brings more to the tray table than those (damn tasty) blue corn chips. There is, for example, a flourishing farm growing potatoes, kale, dill and oregano outside Terminal 5 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.<br></p><p>"Just because you booked an airline ticket doesn't mean you have a deep love of concrete," said Sophia Mendelsohn, JetBlue's head of sustainability, referring to the formerly gray expanse of concrete the airline's passengers used to look out at while sitting in Terminal 5—the area JetBlue "greenified" with the farm. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="41697" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8LQBNJ1495551695"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="764398635614367745" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">JFK reduces food miles after JetBlue open a farm in it's airport! 5000 crates of herbs & veggies ready for take off! https://t.co/hqAeYtlncd</div> — Treebox Ltd (@Treebox Ltd)<a href="https://twitter.com/verticalgrowers/statuses/764398635614367745">1471081811.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p>Her newest project operates under a similar ethos: "Just because you bought an airline ticket doesn't mean you want to eat junk food," she added. Or forget your social principles.<span></span><br></p><p>JetBlue is known for serving products from small, local New York food companies, such as Blue Marble Ice Cream and Brooklyn Roasting Company Coffee. Instead of hopefuls trying to get on board by cold calling the airline and sending samples, companies can apply to JetBlue's BlueBud business-mentoring program. The airline shares lessons it has learned over 18 years in social responsibility, sustainability and marketing. The program also looks at the challenges of serving food at 30,000 feet. Cabin pressure, altitude and dry air zap about <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/09/inside-jetblues-quest-make-plane-food-great/" target="_blank">30 percent</a> of our tasting powers. Then there's the tiny galley "kitchen." Farmerie fights against palate atrophy with vinegars, spices and Maldon sea salt and against space constraints with dry ice and sous vide cooking. BlueBud asks food companies to consider how their recipes might need to be adapted or the packaging changed to work in-flight.<br></p><p>"We'll walk you through how we look at food," Mendelsohn said, adding that there are plans to expand the program.</p><p><a href="https://hotbreadkitchen.org/" target="_blank">Hot Bread Kitchen</a> was the first BlueBud participant. The company's bakers-in-training program helps prepare women for better-paying jobs in the culinary industry, while its retail arm sells breads from around the world, including <em>nan-e qandi</em>, <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/07/22/heirloom-corn-movement-alive" target="_blank">heritage corn</a> tortillas and naan. 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Since 2014, the business has distributed free serrano pepper seedlings to any interested community garden. At the end of the season, growers can sell the mature crop back to Bronx Hot Sauce for $4 a pound. This year, more than 40 gardens grew peppers for the hot sauce and Crotty said about one ton of peppers will be purchased from the community.</p><p>As Bronx Hot Sauce fans out from fancy little food shops in the city to tristate-area grocery stores—from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/whole-foods-teams-up-with-solarcity-nrg-to-install-solar-on-100-stores-1882188176.html">Whole Foods</a> to the JetBlue University cafeteria to a pop-up store in JFK's Terminal 5—Crotty thinks it can help people in the borough tell a new story in the future tense.</p><p>"When the people who work in the gardens—especially the younger people—see their product in big-time stores, it takes them out of the neighborhood they're in and puts them on a way bigger platform," he said. "It expands their universe very quickly." Even the sky is no limit.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/10/17/jet-blue-food" target="_blank">TakePart</a>.</em><br></p>
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