We know that a huge part of our success is because of the beauty of the West Coast experience we offer – an experience that we want to protect and support for generations to come. It’s why we are so strongly committed to being an industry leader on sustainable initiatives.
In 2007, we became the world’s first fully carbon neutral airline(1), and established our ongoing commitment to being carbon neutral. To date we have offset over 167,000 tonnes CO2e, that’s the equivalent of removing over 36,000 gas– powered cars from the road for a year! We are also committed to making real emission reductions through managing fleet renewals, guiding flight operations, and optimizing air traffic, routes and scheduling. In doing so, we have reduced our emissions per revenue dollar by 23% to date.
For our unavoidable emissions, we support four carefully selected carbon offset projects to ensure that we are truly mitigating our climate impact. They are each third-party verified to ensure that they have a real climate benefit, and that benefit would not have occurred without carbon offsets. When you fly with Harbour Air, you can feel good flying.
Offset Projects We Support
The Great Bear Forest Carbon Project
An ecological treasure in Haida Gwaii, B.C., the Great Bear Rainforest is home to the world’s largest remaining intact coastal temperate rainforest. It is the first carbon project in North America on traditional territory with unextinguished Aboriginal rights and Title, returning ownership to stewards of the land.
When you fly with Harbour Air, you are contributing to the protection of over 7,000,000 hectares of forest from harvesting, road building, and other forestry operations.
Located in B.C.’s interior wet belt, the Darkwoods Forest is part of a network of interconnected habitats to form a contiguous wilderness area of 103,000 hectares. It is home to some of the highest tree diversity in the province, abundant streams and rivers, and the last remaining stands of interior temperate rainforest.
When you fly with Harbour Air, you are contributing to the conservation efforts for diverse ecosystems and important species such as the mountain caribou, grizzly bears, and migrating birds.
Photo Credit: Bruce Kirby
Brazil Wind Project
This project consists of the implementation and operation of a variety of wind power plants in Brazil that otherwise would have been sourced through the combustion of fossil fuels. The estimated total GHG emissions reduction for the lifetime of this project is over 4 million tCO2e. This is the equivalent of preventing the emissions from over 10 natural gas-fired powered plants for a year.
When you fly with Harbour Air, you are contributing to help fund clean and renewable energy projects to increase sustainability efforts in Brazil.
Heqing Solar Cooker Project II
Located in Zhangye, an underdeveloped region in Northwestern China, this project involves the installation of solar cookers to mitigate GHG emissions, improve living conditions, and improve indoor air quality and hygiene for residents. The estimated GHG emissions reductions is 143,750 tCO2e annually.
When you fly with Harbour Air you are contributing to subsidizing the installation of 49,000 solar cookers for local communities in need of better infrastructure.
Harbour Air supports high-quality offset projects that are third-party verified to ensure the reductions are real and permanent and that they would not have occurred without funding from carbon offsets. To learn more about the carbon offsets that we support and the standards that they meet, visit Ostrom Climate’s website here.
1Carbon emissions are offset for all fuel, electricity, business flights on third-party airlines, paper, email and internet use, as well as employee emissions from commuting and working from home.