The Guardian

March 8, 2006

Environmentalists have accused Virgin Atlantic of double standards over an initiative to plant trees to compensate for the carbon dioxide emissions from limousines used to drive its customers to airports.

Sir Richard Branson's airline this week struck a deal with Volvo to provide chauffeur-driven transport for upper-class passengers to Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports.

It said it was "actively exploring" options such as Carbon Neutral - a controversial programme which has divided the green community by planting trees to offset carbon emissions from everyday life.

Emissions from Virgin's limousine journeys could amount to a few hundred trees annually. But sustainable transport activists have pointed out that this would barely be a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of harmful pollution caused by the airline's fleet of 33 aircraft.

According to the government's formula, each kilometre travelled by an airline passenger on a long-haul flight accounts for 0.11kg of carbon dioxide. The Guardian has established that offsetting Virgin Atlantic's entire annual flight operation would involve planting 59m trees - which, according to the Forestry Commission, would cover 64,700 hectares - the size of a large Highland estate, or an area slightly smaller than the New Forest.

Steve Hounsham, of the environmental pressure group Transport 2000, said: "For them to focus on the car ride to the airport rather than the air journey itself is somewhat missing the point.

"It's double standards - perhaps an example of what we'd call a greenwash."

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said the limousine initiative was merely a part of a wider environmental strategy which would also involve the aircraft through lightening loads to cut fuel consumption. "On any environmental issue, you always look at where the quick wins are," said the spokesman. "Dealing with something like cars operating the upper-class fleet are obviously going to be an easier issue."

The practice of planting trees to offset carbon emissions has been criticised by some environmental groups who say that it takes many years of growth for saplings to compensate for the emissions of a few hours' flight - and that once trees die, they will release carbon anyway.

Mark Armitage, chief operating officer of the Carbon Neutral company, said offsetting also involved putting funds into renewable technology. He said trees were a particularly useful way to raise awareness: "It makes people aware of the carbon issue."