India’s leading private aviation company, JetSetGo announced ambitious targets to develop a carbon management programme to meet its goal of making flight operations carbon neutral for all its flights by 2024.With the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed a 63.5% increase in CO2 emissions by Indian airlines between 2012-19 and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) forecasting a seven-fold increase in emissions by 2050, the need for clear and decisive action by the aviation sector to address the role it plays in climate change is becoming even more critical.
Whilst the pandemic is already accelerating decarbonisation goals with several aircraft manufacturers and airlines globally beginning their green journey, JetSetGo is the first aviation company in India and amongst the first private aviation companies in the world to commit to becoming carbon neutral within such a short time frame especially during a period where the company is witnessing unprecedented growth in private flying post-Covid.
The program is implemented in partnership with Auroville Consulting, a provider of ecological and socially responsible consultancy services, will have a two-pronged approach – reduce emissions by implementing innovative technological solutions, and neutralise the remainder through an active carbon offset strategy.
To set up a carbon offsetting programme, the partnership will assess emissions from ongoing and future operations to quantify the number of credits that need to be purchased from pre-selected socially and environmentally beneficial carbon offset projects. The option to offset will then be offered to clients who want to voluntarily offset carbon emissions associated with their journey with any shortfall being met by JetSetGo.
As a first step, the assessment will include the company’s direct carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from flight operations. The company then plans to cover indirect and non-CO2 emissions in due course along with other key emissions categories.
Excited about the partnership, Kanika Tekriwal, CEO & Co-Founder of JetSetGo remarked, “JetSetGo is already amongst the top 10 aviation companies in India basis its flight movements and we continue to see rapid growth from the increasing number of customers choosing to fly private for the efficiency, value and convenience it offers. Our DNA has always been to pursue inclusive growth and doing business more responsibly is a natural progression as we simply cannot wait until a certain scale or balance sheet size is achieved before making positive climate action a necessary way of doing business.
Adding further, “We’ve always made our customers’ needs a priority. In addition to our commitment and dedication to seamless private chartered services, we want to help our customers meet their climate goals through our carbon management program. Our partnership with Auroville Consulting will help ensure that we focus more on substance than form to implement what we believe will be global leading practices for sustainable flying.”
Martin Scherfler, Co-Founder of Auroville Consulting said, “As climate change results in the earth heating at a rate equivalent to 5 atomic bombs per second it cannot be business as usual anymore. We are excited to be supporting JetSetGo in developing and implementing a long-term carbon management strategy that will offer climate and other benefits that support social equity. Through this multi-stakeholder engagement process, we hope this initiative will pave the way for the entire supply chain becoming green.”
Although the aviation industry, unlike many other industries, does not have the technology for it to be completely green yet, the carbon management programme will explore innovative technological solutions that can be implemented at the current juncture, such as sustainable aviation fuels and optimal flight route management, and thereby continue to reduce emissions.
Established in 2014 by Kanika Tekriwal and Sudheer Perla to disrupt the private aviation market through an aggregation model that offered better price transparency and reliability to customers on one hand and reduced cost of ownership for aircraft owners on the other, JetSetGo is now redefining the private aviation industry through owning, operating or managing India’s largest fleet of private jets and helicopters. With its non-scheduled operator permit, ground infrastructure in several airports and India’s first aircraft leasing company in GIFT City, JetSetGo has to date flown over 100k passengers to 85+ domestic and international destinations offering seamless connectivity and superior value through industry-leading aircraft dispatch efficiency, activation times, compliance and safety standards. JetSetGo currently operates out of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad and Dubai. Through its SkyShuttle initiative, JetSetGo is pioneering air taxis potentially using eVTOLs shortly to create an urban air mobility market that will enable seamless multi-modal connectivity (road + air) using intra-city vertiports with a vision to alleviate traffic congestion issues and enhance the productivity of Urban India.
