Sustainability

Carbon offsetting is achieved by supporting projects that avoid the creation of new carbon emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere. This means compensating for every tonne of CO2 emitted by ensuring there is one tonne less in the atmosphere than would otherwise have been without the offset, either by reducing CO2 by preventing its release or physically removing it from the air e.g. planting more trees.

easyJet has undertaken a rigorous process in selecting its carbon offset programmes. We have specified only programmes which meet the Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard certification which are globally recognised and respected for their standards of offsetting. This is a voluntary offset system, complementary and additional to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) applied in EU Member States, or other legal requirements such as the International Civil Aviation Organization Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), where applicable.

Offsetting does not prevent the creation of new carbon emissions from flying. Instead, we compensate every tonne of CO2 that easyJet emits from the fuel used for our flights by buying the equivalent quantity of carbon credits from projects which either avoid the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or directly remove carbon dioxide. All projects are independently certified by auditors from Gold Standard or VCS – these are independent, high quality carbon offset certification schemes. 

We offset the carbon emissions from the fuel used for all of our flights, on behalf of all of our customers so your flight will always be offset when you fly with easyJet.

We are proud to have gone much further on this than any other European airline.

No, easyJet will take this on as a cost to the business and we will not add a surcharge to our fares.

Fuel emissions from flying account for over 99% of easyJet’s direct emissions (i.e. Scope 1 & 2 CO2 emissions ).

We continue to work to reduce the amount of single use plastics on our flights. We have already replaced a number of items with more sustainable alternatives and do not offer plastic straws. We also offer a 50p discount on hot drinks for customers who bring their own reusable cup.

Our cabin crew collect waste in two bags, separating out recyclable materials and we work with our aircraft cleaning, ground handling and airport partners on the management of waste.

We are participating in & supporting the development of hybrid, electric and hydrogen aircraft in partnerships with Airbus & Wright Electric & continue to look for opportunities to form partnerships & support the development, in the medium-long term, of commercially viable narrow body zero emission planes.

easyJet offsets not only all the carbon emissions from the fuel for its flights, but also the carbon equivalent effects of some of the other greenhouse gases emitted. We do this by calculating the total carbon equivalent using industry standard global warming potential values of each greenhouse gas, and multiplying them with estimated amounts of released nitrous oxide, methane, etc. We then offset the total amount for these gases. In addition, we work with the Carbon Trust to systematically track our environmental footprint and that of our supply chain, so that we can manage and seek to reduce this in a rigorous manner.
 

The main greenhouse gas produced from burning jet fuel is carbon dioxide (CO2), however, there are also small amounts of other greenhouses gases produced such as nitrous oxide and methane, which also cause global warming. easyJet will offset the carbon equivalent effects of these gases. Scientific work is still ongoing to quantify what are the other non-carbon effects of flying.  

We have been focused on reducing our carbon emission intensity for a long time. The aircraft we fly and the way we fly them means that we are more efficient than many other airlines, but we want to continue to  take action on carbon  and also help to pave the way towards operating zero emissions flights in the future.  

We are working with Wright Electric and Airbus to help inform their plans and designs to ensure any new technological development will benefit airlines and can be brought in when the technology becomes commercially available. We also support government efforts to modernise air traffic management technologies, which can improve fuel efficiency by up to 10%..  

We will do this by calculating the total carbon dioxide equivalent (known as CO2e) using UK Government (and industry standards) factors for aviation jetfuel. The main other greenhouse gases that are accounted for in the CO2e calculations relate to the direct effect of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. These other pollutants contribute an additional c. 1% increase on top of the CO2 only calculation. We then offset the total amount.