US-based Private Jet Services (PJS) has responded to the growing environmental crisis with a carbon neutrality pledge. It says the worldwide number of flyers is accelerating exponentially to a forecast of 4.6 billion passengers in the year 2020. The aviation industry is developing new technologies such as fuel additives, cleaner engines and lighter airframes, but these advancements cannot mitigate the growing carbon emissions produced by airlines. In response to this, PJS has initiated a carbon neutrality pledge in a commitment to offset 100 per cent of the carbon emissions generated by its flights.

“The PJS Carbon Neutrality Pledge is very important to me personally and to the entire PJS family,” says CEO Greg Raiff. “Our customers share this concern for the impact flying has on our planet. By offsetting all of the carbon dioxide released by our clients' flights, PJS has become America's first carbon neutral private aviation company. Now our clients can fly without the carbon footprint.”

In partnership with American Forests, PJS has implemented a reforestation programme to sequester all of its carbon emissions. A single tree can absorb one ton of CO2 within forty years of planting; they also improve water and air quality, temper the climate, reduce soil erosion, prevent flooding and create a healthy habitat for animals and plants.

PJS is committed to planting 79,200 trees each year and will reconcile its reforestation programme annually to adjust for increased flight activity, ensuring that the PJS Carbon Neutrality Pledge is honoured in perpetuity. A majority of the trees will be planted in the Northern Rockies and Cascades, which have suffered heavy losses of whitebark pine and other five-needle pines. Trees in this area are under substantial attack from pest infestation, fatal diseases and intense wildfires, all of which are exacerbated by climate change. PJS will also plant trees along rivers and streams in the Lake Champlain Basin of Vermont to protect and restore surface waters in the basin and help curb the water pollution from farms that have degraded the lake with algal blooms and high levels of pathogens.

“By taking this initiative, we hope the world's airlines will follow our example and adopt a carbon neutrality pledge,” continues Raiff. “We have an opportunity to effect real change for the future of our planet by starting this movement toward net zero emissions aviation.”