The Centre for Geo-Information (CGI) is the first Centre to support climate neutral flying as a standard for all its employees. CGI has subscribed to a programme, where a CO2 compensation fee is automatically added for all flight bookings. This compensation fee is handled by the ClimateNeutral Group (http://www.klimaatneutraal.nl/) under a programme known as GreenSeat (http://www.greenseat.com/).
For every GreenSeat we buy, the proceeds are used to plant, manage and protect forests that store CO2 as they mature. This is done by the GreenSeat forestry partner, the Face Foundation (http://www.stichtingface.nl/). Since the airline industry is a global industry and our climate is a global system, the trees are planted in various places around the world. Most planting is done in tropical areas because trees in those areas grow all year long and thus sequestrate CO2 quicker.
The certification process of CO2 from the forestry projects is monitored by the internationally recognised organisation SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance). The forestry projects are in compliance with FSC regulations and are continuously monitored in terms of sustainable forest management and the amount of CO2 sequestered.
CGI receives for each GreenSeat a certificate that states the amount of CO2 that was compensated for that particular flight. The certificate doesn’t give one ownership of trees but states the amount of C02 that will be taken out of the atmosphere.
Certainly, CGI continues to cut down unneccessary travel as much as possible by means such as car-pooling, train travel, or non-travelling options (video-, tele-conferencing, etc.).