20300244 entry 9

Local airlines are likely to take on the voluntary carbon offsetting program within the latter half of the year, industry insiders say, following a growing trend in the global airline industry.
Asiana Airlines began systematizing the carbon offsetting program for their employees for work-related travels yesterday, with plans to soon offer the choice to customers, according to industry sources.
Korean Air does not yet have specific plans but is soon expected to embrace the program because global airlines have already been keen on picking it up, the industry sources said.
The carbon offsetting program aims to encourage travelers to be more environmentally responsible by counting their carbon footprint - the practice of measuring the amount of greenhouse gases produced in units of carbon dioxide to gauge the impact human activities have on the environment.
Global environmental policies, such as the Kyoto Protocol, and the growing need for global corporations to be more environmentally responsible in order to be considered world-class raise the pressure for such programs.
Local airlines, such as Asiana Airlines, are expected to donate the "carbon fees" to organizations involved in the business of reducing greenhouse gases.
Asiana Airlines said it plans to provide incentives to encourage customers to volunteer for the carbon-counting program. One incentive is expected to be providing bonus air miles to travelers who make an offset purchase.
Airlines in the global market that have already launched the program include Air France, Air Canada, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas Airways, and Scandinavian Airlines.
Delta was the first U.S. airline to offer the option.
Observers project the current voluntary global trend to become mandatory in the next two years.
Some companies like Virgin are selling offsets from the aisle during flights.
As for Asiana's offset rates, flyers can expect to set aside 1,590 won for Gimpo-Busan flights, for Gimpo-Jeju flights 1,200 won, for the Gimpo-Haneda route 2,430 won, from Incheon to Beijing 3,332 won, Incheon to New York 27,649 won, and from Incheon to Frankfurt 21,234 won.
Asiana said it hopes to gain a reputation as an influential environment-friendly corporation by being the first company in Korea to adopt the carbon offsetting program.
By Yoo Soh-jung
(sohjung@heraldm.com)
2008.05.10

Key Issue for the 21 C Market, Environment. - my thought

Environment is Key Issue for the 21c Market. Whether any company really considers environment a lot or not they have to pay close attention to it for them to alive in global competition. This looks so interesting. We might have to think of this very carefully. It’s a kind of function of invisible hand. Invisible hand will choose the firm which considers of the environment a lot.