The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) has renewed its alliance with Carbon Trade eXchange (CTX) to provide a transparent and efficient platform for business aviation companies to voluntarily purchase carbon credits to offset their CO2 emissions as part of an overall sustainability plan.

While signing up for full CTX membership remains the preferred option for those anticipating a larger number of trades, the new Aviation Carbon Exchange B-to-B ‘retail’ platform provides a much quicker, easier path for smaller purchases, with CTX providing a pre-selected registry of high-quality offsets, starting at 100 tonnes.

CTX introduced the world's first electronic exchange for high-quality voluntary carbon credits in real-time more than 16 years ago. Business aviation organisations can choose from a wide range of offset projects certified by the world's leading carbon credit standards:

- The Gold Standard

- UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism

- Verra Verified Carbon Standard

As identified in the Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change (BACCC), out-of-sector measures, including high-quality offsets, are part of the ICAO basket of measures to help the industry achieve carbon-neutral growth and contribute ultimately to the industry target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Carbon credits can be used in the near term as a supplement to other decarbonisation actions, such as operational improvements, use of SAF and newer, more efficient aircraft, contributing to emissions reductions now while the benefits of other measures accumulate over the longer term.

IBAC director general Kurt Edwards comments: “While the industry strives to meet its decarbonisation goals directly, offsetting is a supplemental tool that allows operators to take mitigation action by financing carbon reductions achieved in projects outside the sector. With this new retail platform, we are pleased to see our partnership with CTX further evolve.”

CTX CEO Wayne Sharpe is buoyant, saying: “The best way to start reducing emissions is to cost them in the business, and our low-cost solution helps maximise results for the business aviation sector. Importantly, operators can choose the projects from a curated quality selection from around the world. We are very proud to be part of this game changing solution with such fabulous business aviation leadership on a global scale.”

Once carbon credits are purchased on the platform, they are immediately cancelled by CTX. Unique offset certificates of cancellation that cannot be resold or claimed again are then provided to the buyer. There are no intermediaries between CTX and project developers, resulting in an efficient and transparent offset purchasing experience, and the platform only sells credits listed on CTX, which number in the many millions.