EasyJet to stop offsetting carbon emissions

In order to net zero emissions by 2050, EasyJet will introduce hydrogen-powered jet engines and stop offsetting carbon emissions by its planes.

The goal of easyJet is to reach net zero emissions by the year 2050 by using sustainable aviation fuel, more fuel-efficient planes and carbon capture.

EasyJet said it was the most ambitious plan yet from an airline to tackle emissions while it continued to partner with firms on exploring new technologies.

The airline signed a three-year contract in late 2019 to offset all its CO emissions a world first, but it was regarded by some as greenwashing the environmental damage caused by its passenger jets.

A year ago, a joint investigation by the Guardian found that major airlines including easyJet used unreliable phantom carbon credits to claim their flights were carbon neutral. CO emissions from flying are theoretically cancelled out by paying to stop emissions elsewhere, such as those from deforestation, under the logic of offsetting.

EasyJet will no longer pay for offsets for bookings made after December. It will not invest less in making flying less polluting and sustainable, as it has not disclosed the sums it paid for the controversial offsets.

In a launch event at easyJet's Luton airport headquarters, Rolls-Royce displayed a jet engine powered by hydrogen, and said it was progressing fast towards hydrogen combustion ground tests. EasyJet plans to curb CO emissions by 35% by the year 2035 as part of its new roadmap, and said the steps it was taking had been validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative.

The fleet replacement of conventional kerosene-fuelled planes would be the most significant reduction of 15% of current emissions.

EasyJet ordered 168 more A 320 neos from Airbus, and the manufacturer will retrofit the existing fleet with technology to optimize flight descent and fuel burn.

The easyJet chief executive, Johan Lundgren, said the plan had a level of detail and granularity that differentiates it from similar aviation announcements, although the roadmap remained partially reliant on schemes such as airspace modernisation that require government action that had not been forthcoming in a decade.

Lundgren said that we have already reduced our carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre, by one-third since 2000, so this is a significant acceleration in our decarbonisation.

We are the first airline to outline an ambitious roadmap in which zero carbon emission technology plays a key role in getting to zero emissions by the year 2050 and ultimately zero carbon emission flying across our entire fleet. Carbon capture technology will allow the airline to reach net zero by the year 2050, and it believes it can cut its own emissions by 78% by the year 2050.

Despite moving away from offsetting, Lundgren insisted that it had been the right thing to do, but was only an interim measure. He added: We want to transition to technologies that reduce our carbon intensity from our direct operation, that is our key goal. The Guardian investigation with Unearthed, Greenpeace's investigative arm, found that the carbon credits were based on complicated and unreliable hypothetical calculations of avoided deforestation, which experts warned were not real emissions reductions. The findings were fiercely criticised by Verra, the carbon offsetting standard that approved the credits.

In a potential move towards zero-emission flight, Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace announced on Monday that it had achieved the first hovering test flight of its VX 4 prototype electric plane over the weekend.