Virgin Atlantic's carbon offsetting scheme is misleading its customers.

A new report by environmental NGO Fern claims that carbon offsetting isn't just failing to offset passengers’ carbon footprint, but is doing nothing to stop the destruction of the rainforest. And even resulting in “serious human rights issues.”

Customers pay to offset the carbon cost of their flights in good faith. But companies like Virgin are betraying that faith. 

Let’s put Virgin’s claim that reducing its environmental impact is at the heart of what it does to the test, and force it to lead the way in making real strides towards reducing its emissions.

Virgin Atlantic: stop misleading your customers -- carbon offsetting doesn’t work. Find a real solution to reduce your emissions!

International aviation is one of the main global sources of carbon emissions. If it were a country, aviation would already rank amongst the top ten emitters, with emissions projected to be almost as high as all of Germany’s by 2020.

Environmental NGO Fern’s report shows that forest carbon offset schemes -- like this one operated by Terra Global Capital -- consistently fail to meet their targets. But many airlines, like Virgin, continue to promote these schemes that could be little more than greenwash

Fern campaigner Julia Christian said, “Virgin’s use of dodgy carbon credits is unfortunately far from exceptional -- forest offsets in general are plagued by these kinds of problems, which is why it’s extremely worrying to see airlines plan to ramp up their use on an industry-wide scale, to create an illusion of ‘carbon neutral growth”.

Globally, 4-out-of-5 people have never even taken a flight. That means a small group of the world’s wealthiest people are determining the climate future for people who have contributed almost nothing to climate change. That’s why it’s so important we make corporations like Virgin to take the lead in its industry and reduce its emissions.

Virgin: put the planet before your profits. Find a real solution to lower your carbon emissions!

We’ve stood up to Virgin before: when the multinational corporation wasn’t paying its share of tax, over 35,000 SumOfUs members like you signed our petition made your voices heard. Together, we can force Virgin to do the right thing and switch to a carbon offsetting scheme that works!

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