How can flying and sustainable environmental awareness be combined? We are aware that it would be best not to emit any CO₂ at all. Therefore we are proud to be the first travel portal to offer 100% carbon-neutral flights without any extra effort.
To meet this key challenge, we are taking a holistic approach because for FLYLA protecting the climate plays an important role. We attach great importance to keeping the ecological footprint created by the air travel we arrange as small as possible. In addition, we try to minimize the CO₂ emissions generated by our business activities.
Specifically, we are pursuing two different projects:
On the one hand, we plant between one and three trees for every flight booked through our platform, thus actively contributing to climate protection. Eden Reforestation Projects, one of the leading and most reliable NGOs in the field of reforestation, is joining forces with us in this effort.
Many companies would pat themselves on the back after this step and leave it at that. But that's not enough for us. To avoid impacting our climate as much as possible, we fully and automatically offset the CO₂ emissions of the air travel we offer. We do this in partnership with First Climate. Therefore, booking with FLYLA means flying carbon-neutral from now on.
Meet First Climate
With around 20 years of experience, First Climate, founded in 1999, is one of the world's leading organizations in the field of climate protection and green energy solutions. More than 500 customers trust the company's innovative work in carbon neutrality and environmental protection. First Climate is a founding member of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance.
First Climate only supports carbon offset projects that meet the highest environmental and socio-economic standards, such as the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard promoted by WWF.
As part of the cooperation, we offset all CO₂ emissions from flights booked via our platform. This is because, according to the two certification standards, added value is generated for nature and people. Climate protection projects managed by First Climate are therefore also development projects that make an important contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
What does CO₂ compensation mean?
CO₂ compensation is about achieving a climate balance. For our climate, it is irrelevant where in the world CO₂ emissions are generated and where they are saved. Since air traffic will continue to produce CO₂ emissions, these must be offset elsewhere.
FLYLA Meets Eden Reforestation Projects
Eden Reforestation pursues projects in various parts of the world to sequester CO₂. Current projects can be found in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia, and Mozambique. Local people and nature benefit from valuable projects and healthy, sustainable development.
Eden Reforestation Projects contribute to positive development in the respective regions by giving people affected by extreme poverty a job and a task by planting millions of trees.
Healthy forests are created that store CO₂ in the long term. In five countries, more than 260 million trees have already been planted and more than 2.6 million working days have been created. So by planting trees, multidimensional added value is created, which FLYLA uses to generate positive social chain reactions as a company.
We plant between one and three trees for every flight booked. All this is completely free of charge for our users. We will publish the number of trees planted on our website to ensure maximum transparency. More information can be found on the Eden website. We calculate the number of trees to be planted based on the flight distance. You can find an example of the calculation here:
We have already planted thousands of trees with Eden Reforestation Projects. For CO₂ compensation with our partner First Climate, we use an emissions calculator to determine the exact emissions of all air travel sold. Flying with FLYLA means flying CO₂ neutral.
Our Project in India
To offset unavoidable CO₂ emissions, we support a Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)-certified wind power project in the Indian state of Gujarat, which helps avoid greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of coal-fired power and reduces local air pollution. The project saves the amount of CO₂ generated by the air travel we arrange and by our business operations. The project is certified by the internationally recognized Verified Carbon Standard and the emission savings achieved are regularly verified and confirmed by independent experts.
Sustainable Development Goals
What are the Sustainable Development Goals? The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a United Nations objective to ensure a better and more sustainable future for all people on the planet. They are about nothing less than addressing the global challenges of our time: climate change, poverty, inequality, and justice.
Since the above-mentioned challenge areas are interconnected, the 17 goals are also complementary and are to be achieved by 2030.
Which SDGs do we actively support?
As part of our collaborations with Eden Reforestation and First Climate, we are making an active, multidimensional contribution to moving a small but important step closer to the SGDs goals.
First of all, every flight booked through FLYLA is 100% carbon neutral and is even overcompensated by our tree planting program. At the same time, our partnerships create multidimensional added value for people and nature.
Our partners demonstrably create well-paid jobs. These in turn trigger a variety of chain reactions, such as the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger. Increasing economic activity correlates with improved gender equality and health, as well as decreasing inequality. Likewise, economic growth is the key to better education and education is the key to a more sustainable and better future. Our reforestation projects improve living conditions for people and the environment, as well as promote rural living.
We are very pleased to partner with Eden Reforestation Projects and First Climate and hope to convince other companies to support similar projects. Because only together can we achieve the Climate Protection and Sustainable Development Goals and also provide a good future for our children and our children's children.
If you have any further questions about this important topic, please feel free to contact us at franziska@flyla.com.