Etihad Airways CEO says carbon offsets amount to ‘cheating’

Carbon offsets, used by airlines to show they’re neutralizing greenhouse gas emissions, avoid the real challenge of cutting back on CO2, according to the chief executive officer of Gulf carrier Etihad Airways. The state-owned company offset 70,000 tons of carbon emissions for one Boeing Co. 787 this year by buying into a forestry program in Tanzania, CEO Tony Douglas said Wednesday. “That said, I think offsetting is cheating,” Douglas said. “It’s a short-term stopgap if you haven’t got a more sustainable alternative, but it’s cheating.” The comments follow a breakthrough agreement reached this past week to create a global carbon market governing emissions trading. While the impact on aviation is still unclear, the Article 6 accord reached at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, will unify standards in carbon-offset trading, potentially broadening their use. Douglas added his voice to a handful of airline executives who, along with environmentalists, have challenged the effectiveness of interim measures like tree-planting. Etihad still intends to plant mangroves in Abu Dhabi, “so it gets closer to home,” Douglas said. “That’s still cheating.”<br/>