Frequent fliers can donate award miles for carbon offsets

Frequent fliers with Lufthansa and SWISS now have the option of using their award miles to make voluntary carbon offset donations, the two airlines have announced.

The new offering expands the airlines’ existing CO2 compensation programme to allow passengers a way to offset personal carbon emissions generated during their flight.

For the past two years, Lufthansa passengers have already had the option of voluntarily donating cash through the Swiss “myclimate” foundation to help compensate for flight-related CO2 emissions. Accessed via Lufthansa’s website, the programme allows passengers who’ve booked flights to calculate their personal share of the CO2 produced on each route. The calculator then informs passengers of the amount they would need to donate individually to balance the environmental impact of their journey.

Site visitors can use the programme even if they’re not booking a flight.

Aside from the carbon offset emissions calculator, the Lufthansa site also provides detailed information about the climate protection projects that myclimate supports with the offset donations. The projects are compliant with ecological sustainability standards such as CDM and Gold Standard.

With the expansion of that offet programme, passengers can from today on use the mileage they accrue in the worldwide Miles & More frequent flyer programme to compensate for the impact of their flying on the climate. Passengers opting to pay with award miles will have those miles deducted from their account, and myclimate will receive the corresponding amount in cash to invest in certified climate protection projects.