Qantas to offset every passenger's carbon emissions from ultra-long-haul London-Sydney flights

Qantas has said it will offset every passenger’s carbon emissions from its new ultra-long-haul direct flights. The “Project Sunrise” services will be the longest commercial flights in the world, clocking in at 18-20 hours, and flying nonstop between Sydney and Melbourne to key destinations including London, New York and Paris. Now, the airline has said it will be offsetting the new services’ emissions on every seat filled, in response to the “flight shame” movement in Europe, which encourages travellers to swap flying for alternative, lower-carbon forms of transport. “We've said we'll carbon offset every passenger on the aircraft because there’s a big push in Europe not to travel called flight-shaming, which is a big issue,” Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said. Speaking of previous Project Sunrise test flights, Joyce said that “the number one question from the European journalists was why would anyone do this with the carbon emissions we’re going to have on these flights”. In response, Qantas will be offsetting the emissions of every passenger through projects including rebuilding wetlands and replanting endangered rainforest at Queensland's Babinda Reef. <br/>