Carbon offsetting with Miles & More award miles

Lufthansa and SWISS expand CO2 compensation programme

From now on, award miles earned in the Miles & More frequent flyer programme can also be used for voluntary carbon offset donations at Lufthansa and SWISS. The two airlines have expanded their CO2 compensation programme to allow passengers this mode of balancing their individual share of the carbon emissions generated during their flight.

For the past two years Lufthansa passengers have already enjoyed the option of voluntarily donating cash through the prestigious Swiss “myclimate” foundation to help compensate for the CO2 emissions caused by their flight. They simply access the airline’s voluntary CO2 compensation programme with just two clicks on Info & Service on the www.lufthansa.com website. After booking a flight, each passenger can then calculate the individual amount of the CO2 produced on the route for which he is responsible for. As a guideline, an emissions calculator, utilising the fuel consumption data of the Lufthansa fleet, informs passengers of the amount they would need to donate individually to balance the environmental impact of their journey. The scheme can be utilised independently of whether a flight is booked or not. Aside from an carbon offset emissions calculator, the http://lufthansa.myclimate.org website provides detailed information about the climate protection projects, which myclimate supports with the offset donations. The projects are compliant with the most stringent ecological sustainability standards (CDM, Gold Standard) and bring social and economic benefits to the communities in which they are based.

In addition to the classical mode of making carbon offset donations with voluntary cash contributions, 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 the miles deducted from their mileage account. myclimate will receive the corresponding amount in cash from Miles & More and invest the money in certified climate protection projects. Within the Lufthansa Group SWISS also offers passengers this option of cooperating with myclimate.