Green private jets? Don't make me laugh

Private jet companies are charging executives puny sums to supposedly make the flights carbon-neutral. What a greenwash
Fred Pearce
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 October 2009 11.51 GMT
Ah, the joys of your own executive jet. No more standing in line at the airport; no more travelling according to someone else's timetable; no more getting into the same plane as beastly ordinary people. And to hell with the climate consequences.
Well, that used to be the mantra. But these days something even more worrying is afoot. Now you can hire your own private plane and bask in the glow of being carbon-neutral at the same time.
NetJets Europe, which claims to be "the world's largest business aviation company", is adding compulsory carbon offsetting to contracts with all its customers. It says that by 2012, when all existing contracts will have been renewed, the entire operation will be carbon-neutral.
Its partner in this process is the Dublin-based offsetting company Ecosecurities, which specialises in cutting methane emissions from pig farm slurry pits, landfills and water treatment works across the world.
Gulp if you will, but arguably this is the logical outcome of the carbon offsetting business. It means the filthy rich can maintain their lifestyles while buying virtue at a cost few of them will notice. The cost of those offsets will generally be less than 1% of the hire cost of a plane.
NetJets is so far sticking by only voluntary offsets outside Europe. But, to be fair, it is also looking at biofuels as a long-term option, which has the potential to drastically cut actual emissions from the company's fleet. It is sponsoring research at Princeton University on future jet fuels.
Other private jet companies are joining the green push. But most are simply offering their customers off-the-shelf ways to buy their way to a green image through offsets. So you can "eliminate your carbon footprint" with Chief Executive Air, which says:
Enjoy the comfort and convenience of flying private and work with us to promote a cleaner environment by sponsoring a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Fly Chief Executive Air for personalized private flight that's GREEN.
You might almost believe –and I can't help thinking some executives will believe – that the more you fly the better it is for the environment.
An increasing number of carbon offset companies are joining in, too. Their old mantra that you should cut your emissions first and then offset what emissions are unavoidable seems to have been lost in the rush to soak up the cash and carbon of the rich.
How much greater are the emissions from executive jets? I am indebted to HalogenGuides Jets, "the insider's guide to private aviation", for doing the stats.
They reviewed 10 popular private jets using emissions stats provided by TerraPass, the offset company used by Chief Executive Air. The planes ranged from the Gulfstream 400, which burns up 32l of fuel a minute and can carry up to 19 passengers, to the Learjet 40XR, which burns more than 13l a minute to carry a maximum of five passengers.
HeliumReport converts this fuel burn into carbon dioxide emissions per hour. If we assume the plane is fully loaded with passengers, they mostly come in at between 200-300kg of carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere per passenger per hour. But of course, the purpose of having your own jet is that you are not stuck with silly cost-cutting exercises like filling every seat on the plane.
I know of no analysis of how full private jets normally fly, but let's assume they are mostly half full. That gives emissions per passenger-hour of 400-600kg of carbon dioxide. That's about half a tonne.
How does that compare with a regular commercial flight? For one from London to Paris, which is roughly an hour, TerraPass reckons 59kg per passenger per hour, or little more more than a 10th as much as flying your own, half full, Learjet.
If you are interested in carbon emissions, these numbers are scary. An hour's flight on a private jet will emit more carbon dioxide than most Africans do in a whole year.
But of course if you are a top executive, offsetting costs on average, according to HeliumReport, between 0.1% and 0.6% of the hourly hire cost of the aircraft. Small change, in other words.
This cannot be right. This is not the place to pursue the question of how leaky and unpredictable the climate benefits of carbon offsets often are. They have some value, for sure, but they are very much second best to cutting your emissions.
I blame the offsetters for the marketing of offsets as an alternative, even a superior alternative, to cutting corporate emissions. They get an easy ride from greens. TerraPass proudly quotes the green blog Treehugger's plaudit that "we've always been impressed with the way TerraPass thinks beyond offsets to how they can actually encourage folks to lead greener lifestyles too".
I'm sorry. TerraPass has a special part of its website dedicated to signing up corporate clients using private jets. I didn't see any mention there of how, maybe, commercial flying might be better.
It's a sham. It's greenwash.