Story ID: 
South Africa's Comair Flight Goes Carbon Neutral
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: Backing a range of accredited projects helps reduce net carbon but also to help in other ways, according to the South African operator.
Word Count: 274
Comair Flight Services (CFS) has unveiled a carbon offsetting initiative, the CFS Pure Flight Programme, in partnership with Credible Carbon, a South African carbon registry. The company, which is based at Lanseria Airport near Johannesburg, South Africa, said it is “the first in Africa to go carbon neutral” on all its flights. “The offset cost is automatically included in the price of any charter flight,” added CFS.

CFS is “sourcing carbon credits from independently reviewed and accredited projects that actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” the company said, adding it “does not profit from these transactions in any way.” Pure Flight will offset aircraft CO2 emissions by supporting various projects that reduce net greenhouse gas emissions and also aim to alleviate poverty.

“Many of these carbon offsetting projects provide wider benefits in addition to carbon reduction, such as biodiversity, education, jobs, food security, and health, and well-being in developing countries,” CFS said.

Kerry Searle, client services director at CFS, added, “Sustainability is very important to our clients and they wanted a simple way to offset the carbon their flights produce and still remain competitive on pricing…I think we’ve been able to achieve that.”

The company takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, said CFS CEO Justin Reeves. “Among our efforts to tackle climate change, we have set up the CFS Pure Flight Programme in partnership with the team at Credible Carbon to help offset the carbon dioxide generated from air travel in a credible and simple way. I challenge [our competitors] all to join us in reducing the impact our businesses have on our planet.”