4AIR Launches as the First Emissions Reduction Solution Provider Focused Solely on Private Aviation
Helps private aviation participants offset or directly reduce carbon dioxide and other climate-related pollutants generated by air travel
Available for anyone in private aviation, from companies and individuals who own aircraft, fractional shares or jet cards to those who charter flights
A 4AIR rating can be applied to existing sustainability efforts or offered as a full-service sustainability program
BOSTON, January 28, 2021 – 4AIR today launched as the first emissions reduction solution provider focused solely on helping private aviation participants to offset or reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-related pollutants. 4AIR’s framework, the only comprehensive approach to reducing or eliminating aviation emissions, provides a simplified and verifiable path to mitigating the environmental impact of aviation activities for any company or individual in private aviation.
“4AIR creates a new standard for sustainability in private aviation, giving those who own or fly on private aircraft the ability to address the environmental impacts of their flights,” said Kennedy Ricci, 4AIR’s president. “4AIR starts where other environmental programs end – with carbon neutrality – and continues on up to emission reductions and supporting the future of environmentally-friendly aviation. We don’t want to merely neutralize the impact of private aviation, but instead make it part of the solution for long-term sustainability.”
Nancy Bsales, 4AIR’s Chief Operating Officer, Sustainability, and a veteran of the effort to reduce carbon emissions, noted that “Aviation directly represents 2 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but the true impact on climate is closer to 5 percent when considering all emissions and non-CO2 impacts. The industry has made sweeping commitments to sustainability by 2050, and 4AIR’s programs can help private aviation participants to do their part.”
Through the 4AIR Rating – the first and only rating system focused on sustainability in private aviation – 4AIR offers benchmarks that are aligned with industrywide goals and consistent with international standards. The framework offers four levels, each with specific, science-based goals, independently verified results and progressively greater impacts on sustainability:
4AIR Bronze: Carbon-Neutral – Setting the Baseline
4AIR Bronze allows participants to be carbon-neutral by offsetting all of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with verified carbon offset credits. 4AIR measures a client’s carbon emissions and then enables them to identify and purchase credits that fund specific, verified, real-world projects intended to offset carbon emissions.
4AIR Silver: Emissions-Neutral – Because CO2 is Just One-Third of the Problem
Two-thirds of an aircraft’s environmental impact comes from non-carbon dioxide warming pollutants such as water vapor, soot and contrails. 4AIR Silver, truly innovative in the aviation sector, enables participants to be fully emissions-neutral, compensating for non-CO2 impacts with verified offsets.
4AIR Gold: Emissions Reduction – From Offsetting to True Reductions
4AIR Gold allows participants to go beyond emissions neutrality to actually reducing emissions by at least 5 percent. Solutions include operational improvements, low-emitting aircraft and – most readily today – the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Although the availability of SAF is still limited, participants can support its use by purchasing Sustainable Aviation Fuel credits through 4AIR.
4AIR Platinum: Climate Champion – The Aviation Climate Fund
4AIR Platinum allows participants to support new technology in aviation with a contribution to the Aviation Climate Fund, a nonprofit aimed at supporting research and development in aviation sustainability. Direct contributions to the Aviation Climate Fund are made based on the participant’s carbon footprint.
How 4AIR’s Process Works
Earning a 4AIR rating is as easy as a company or individual making a commitment to a specific level of the 4AIR framework: Pledging to become carbon-neutral; to become emission-neutral; to generate direct emissions reductions; or to become a Climate Champion. A 4AIR rating can be applied to existing sustainability efforts or offered as a turnkey full-service program.
At the end of the year, 4AIR certifies the accomplishments of each company or individual based upon relevant flight data (such as actual fuel consumption) in order to audit the previous year’s commitment and retire final carbon offset credits earned. Companies that achieve or surpass the level they committed would be eligible for the coming year.
“The keystones of 4AIR’s framework are progressive steps, transparent accomplishments, industrywide collaboration and global acceptance and recognition,” said Bsales. “Through a proprietary framework with ambitious goals, rigorous evaluation and full accountability, 4AIR’s process not only has effectiveness but also credibility with industry players. We look forward to setting a new standard for aviation sustainability.”
Kennedy Ricci and Nancy Bsales will appear on February 2, 2021 at the Corporate Jet Investor London 2021 Conference, addressing the topic “Making business aviation sustainable now and in the future.”
About 4AIR
Incubated by Directional Aviation (www.directional.com), 4AIR is the first and only sustainability solutions program dedicated to private aviation. Its industry-first framework seeks to address climate impacts of all types and provides a simplified and verifiable path for private aviation industry participants to achieve meaningful aircraft emissions counteraction and reduction.
The 4AIR greenhouse gas accounting tool for aviation is easily incorporated into company-level greenhouse gas inventories meeting global reporting standards and guidelines. Carbon intensity aligns with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standards and allows for tracking of metrics for ESG (environmental, social, governance) data.
All carbon credits through 4AIR are quantified and verified through the most respected and international leading bodies that issue and register credits, including the American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, Verified Carbon Standard (VERRA) and The Gold Standard. Additionally, end-of-year commitment audits are independently verified by third parties.
Media Contact:
Erin Daigle
The Hubbell Group, Inc.
Mobile: (781) 815-2827
Email: edaigle@hubbellgroup.com