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Hi! Jet-Set Offset here (www.jetsetoffset.com). This is an interesting approach for offsetting. We’re a startup with a similar focus on air travel -- which is one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions in the US and around the world, with emissions rates that have been increasing 4% each year as more and more of us are flying. We’ve found that lack of awareness around this issue is almost as great as the difficulty of navigating the traditional carbon marketplace to “offset” your flight emissions. While flying less is the best thing each of us can do as individuals, it's not always possible or realistic. Jet-Set Offset was founded with the belief that we can make better choices and do good when we fly. Jet-Set Offset is a platform that allows eco-conscious travelers to do something about the environmental impact of their air travel by automatically donating one-cent per mile to their choice of non-profit environmental organization - every time they fly. Rather than operate as another carbon market, we've developed a donation-based alternative. Our model allows members to give based on the exact air mileage of their flight (not an estimated subscription model), and give to nonprofits in a meaningful way without taking a 20% cut. We share similar aims to Wren but our approach is different. Here’s how:
- We provide a donation-based alternative to the traditional "purchase and sale" carbon offset market. Some of our nonprofit partners operate certified carbon offset projects, but Jet-Set Offset is not just another carbon marketplace.
- Jet-Set Offset operates as a business, but every donation made through the platform is 100% tax-deductible, as it’s made directly to the organization of the flyer’s choice. The organizations pay Jet-Set Offset a 3% fee of every donation made for use of the platform, in addition to credit card processing fees -- which means that the non-profit organizations are receiving 94% of each donation made.
- The work of many of our nonprofit partners moves beyond the direct mitigation of carbon emissions by also focusing on climate adaptation, resilience, energy transformation, and policy change.
- We’ve made choice a huge part of our model. Flyers can choose to give where they live and support a local organization with an environmental mission that resonates with them. As public consciousness of this issue grows, we think that air travelers will seek viable options and alternatives to the traditional 1:1 carbon offset markets -- which can be challenging to navigate and bring up separate issues of resilience, additionality, permanence, and leakage (see Andy Newman’s recent article in the NYT, “If Seeing the World Helps Ruin It…”). While certifying organizations go to great lengths to verify carbon offset projects, verification has limits. To all the readers, check us out! We’re interested in feedback to our approach and connection to more nonprofit partners doing amazing work that we can support. Is that an organization you’d want to give to when you fly? (Currently, any US-based 501c3 organization can request to become a Jet-Set Offset partner, provided that part of their mission is working to combat climate change and that they can provide measurable results of how donations made via the platform will be used.) |