American Airlines Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is American Airlines offering carbon offsets?
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American Airlines is partnering with Cool Effect to connect our customers with options for offsetting the carbon emissions associated with their flights. Our partnership with Cool Effect is part of our long-term commitment to reducing the impact of air travel on the environment.
Cool Effect is a nonprofit organization that sources high-quality, verified carbon reduction projects across the globe and is recognized for rigorous vetting and full pricing transparency.
- What else is American Airlines doing to reduce the impact to the environment?
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American has a goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and we’ve committed to set an intermediate, science-based target for the year 2035. Our carbon offsetting partnership with Cool Effect is just one element of our long-term strategy to reduce our emissions. That strategy also includes renewing our fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft, using and growing the market for sustainable aviation fuel and improving fuel efficiency in our day-to-day operations. Read more on our website.
- How is my flight offset calculated?
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Cool Effect harnesses the EPA’s most recently established emission factor data (2018) and approximates flight lengths from credible online sources. In order to estimate the total metric tonnage of greenhouse gas emissions per flight, Cool Effect combines emissions of carbon dioxide (1:1), methane (25:1) and nitrous oxide (298:1) and adjusts for the distinct global warming potential of each gas.
Cool Effect then applies these values over three different flight-length categories: Short, Medium and Long Haul. The purposeful inclusion of methane and nitrous oxide distinguishes this Flight Emissions Calculator from other sources, which often include solely carbon dioxide in their calculations.
By selecting a length of flight, the calculator automatically applies the correct equation for emissions in economy class, then multiples it by the average price per tonne for the American Airlines portfolio of carbon offset projects. The system automatically applies your purchase evenly over all of the projects. When you purchase carbon credits equivalent to your flight emissions, you are offsetting the footprint of your air travel.
- If I change or cancel my flight, can the offset be refunded or applied to another flight?
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No, we cannot. When you buy a carbon offset from a project featured on Cool Effect, we immediately send the money to the project and retire the carbon credit on the proper international registry. This ensures that your tonne cannot be sold twice and that the carbon benefit is captured. Once the carbon credits are retired we cannot un-retire them or have your purchase refunded.
- Why did you create this flight calculator?
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Cool Effect Flight Emissions Calculator is meant to provide the environmentally-conscious flyer with sound knowledge on which to base each decision to offset. More than 90% of your donation goes to back to the projects.
At the end of the day, the idea is simple: Do what you can to reduce your daily emissions, then offset what remains with high-quality, scientifically verified carbon credits.
- AB1305 Disclosures
- Seeing the Forest for the Trees, For Peat’s Sake, & Breath of Fresh Air
Why we chose this project:
![](https://www.cooleffect.org/lib/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/map-mexico-seeing-the-forest.png)
“The protocol this project applies is easily replicated while maintaining the credibility of the project’s baseline and additionality. The emission reduction from improved forest management projects using the CAR Mexico protocol usually results in projects issuing less than 10,000 tonnes a year, but these are high quality and deliver real benefits to the community. More than 90% of the revenues from sale of carbon flow back directly to the community. We are impressed with the communities’ involvement in the protection and management of the forest.”
– Sid Yadav, Director of Project Research
Cool Effect Model:
Project Type: Avoided Nature Loss
Carbon Standard: Climate Action Reserve (CAR)
Vintage: 2018-2020
Additionality: Without funding from the sale of carbon, the forest would be used for income-generating activities by the local residents.
Permanence: Credits are issued based on the proportion of carbon that is maintained over a 100-year period.
Site Visit: November 2019
What it does:
Mexico’s 65 million hectares of forest are disappearing at the rate of 1 million hectares a year. In Oaxaca alone, there is an opportunity to improve forest management and conservation on 1 million hectares. Indigenous communities own most of the land, highlighting the opportunity to incorporate carbon offset projects and community-based Improved Forest Management (IFM) activities that provide ecosystem services, receive community support, and are sustainable for the planet. The sale of carbon offsets provides additional funds to further these communal activities.
This project mitigates forest exploitation by restoring areas impacted by severe erosion or those affected by disease, fire, and pests; and protects and prevents damage by fires, grazing, and illegal use of forest resources. By implementing Improved Forest Management (IFM) practices, the forest growth rate exceeds both the baseline and natural growth model. These techniques focus on surveillance tours to detect pests and diseases, destroy trees as needed, weed/invasive plant control, and pruning and thinning techniques to guarantee the natural regeneration of healthy and native species.
This community-based initiative will allow the community to diversify its income and contribute to reduced carbon emissions. All members of the community within the activity area are involved in a joint effort to sustainably manage and increase the carbon stocks in the forests.
Benefits:
- Protects several species of birds, orchids and other rare flowers, wild boars, white-tailed deer, and the puma—all threatened by deforestation.
- Creates a model for urgently needed forest conservation throughout Mexico and South America.
- Sustainably manages the forest with a minimal impact on the ecosystem but an extensive contribution to social and economic development.
- Creates jobs for local residents. Without the project, the main revenue source is agriculture with some cattle grazing.
- Provides education on forest management, monitoring and carbon revenue.
- Protects land ownership and revenue ownership rights of the communities and enables people keeps people in rural communities.
- Brings in additional resources to reinvest in the forest
Challenges:
- Under financial pressure, the forests are likely to be logged to the maximum possible extent
- Obtaining an agreement and a majority through a variety of community members can be difficult.
- The forest is at risk of fires or pests.
- Forest conservation is a low priority and not well understood in Mexico.
- The government is not very proactive with forest conservation.
- Providing long-term and sustainable income streams to forest dwellers and their families is challenging
Drawdown
Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan to reverse global warming; Seeing the Forest for the Trees relates to Solutions Number 15 and 17 – Afforestation and Tree IntercroppingWhy we chose this project:
“Mexico ranks second in Latin America in global greenhouse gas emissions and methane constitutes around one-third of Mexico’s GHG emissions. Methane primarily originates from solid municipal waste landfills where standard practice is open dumpsite waste disposal. This project manages the waste using technology to create an environmentally safe method. By supporting well-run projects like this one, we can permanently destroy this powerful short-lived climate pollutant and have a significant impact on the environment.”
– Johanna Depenthal, Director of Project Research
Cool Effect Model:
Project Type: Landfill Gas: Renewable Energy
Project ID: CAR 1464
Carbon Standard: CAR
Vintage: 2021-2022
Additionality: Without carbon finance, this project in Mexico, reliant on expensive technology and facing high perceived risks by local banks for landfill gas (LFG) projects, cannot operate.
Permanence: When methane gas is combusted for electricity or flared it is permanently destroyed. Calibrated machines provide an accurate count of exactly how much methane was destroyed.
Site Visit: September 2024
What it does:
The Ciudad Juarez Landfill Gas to Energy Project is a landfill gas (LFG) collection and utilization project in the Ciudad Juarez landfill in the desert-dominated state of Chihuahua, Mexico (the Host Country). The Project’s purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by capturing and utilizing the methane (CH4) in the LFG released by the Ciudad Juarez landfill and avoiding future GHG emissions from the decomposition of municipal solid waste residues.
The captured methane is combusted to generate electricity exported to the national power grid and used as an alternative source of cheap, local, stable, and renewable energy. Thus, in addition to directly eliminating a significant portion of methane emissions, a potent GHG with 80 times the global warming potential of CO2 in a 20-year period, the Project will also displace fossil fuel-based electricity generation that would have caused the emission of additional CO2. All landfill gas collected when electricity is not produced will be flared turning methane gases into carbon dioxide (a lower global warming potential pollutant) and water.
The Ciudad Juarez landfill, which started operating in 1994, has an estimated capacity of 30,000,000 cubic meters and a footprint of 79 hectares (nearly 200 acres or 151 football fields). The landfill, when full, is predicted to be closed in 2040.
The collected landfill gas is used for electricity generation on-site using a destruction device considered as Rich-burn internal combustion engine as per Mexico Landfill Protocol. The plant for generating electricity includes a generator-set of 6.4 MW installed capacity (comprised of four generator engines), a 13.8 to 115 kVA transformer during phase I, a transmission line that reaches the local electric grid.
The project has been registered since 30/11/2007 under CDM Standard and has successfully transitioned to the Climate Action Reserve Registry for its second crediting period.
Benefits:
- Destruction of Methane Gas
- Improves the local environment and reduces health risks by reducing the amount of noxious air pollution arising from the landfill.
- Generate electricity to the national power grid.
- Reduces the dependency on fossil fuel-generated electricity by using renewable energy.
- Short-term and long-term job opportunities
- Technology transfer of landfill management
Challenges:
- Working in a dangerous area of Mexico
- Sophisticated equipment and need to train personnel.
Drawdown
Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan to reverse global warming; Buried Treasure relates to Solution Number 68 – Waste to Energy.Why we chose this project:
![](https://www.cooleffect.org/lib/content/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CE-mapillos-JS-v1_honduras.png)
“The stove passes routine testing by standard Kitchen Performance Tests, and the wood savings are verified. Support and interest in the stove in rural communities in Honduras are overwhelming to the point where it requires no marketing, the growing participation is from word of mouth.
After families get a cookstove, they receive three follow-up visits to ensure the stove was installed and working correctly. This project uses Salesforce CRM to collect usage and maintenance data to identify and solve issues quickly. As a nonprofit, 100% of the proceeds from carbon sales are applied to stove production in Honduras without administrative or operating costs for the staff supporting the project from the United States.”
—Sid Yadav, Director of Project Research
Cool Effect Model:
Project Type: Technology-based Avoidance/Reduction
Carbon Standard: Gold Standard
Vintage: 2016
Additionality: Carbon offset sales support project costs from stove production to stove installation; without the project, traditional cooking methods would prevail.
Permanence: Because the stove requires ½ the amount of wood compared to traditional stoves wood use is permanently reduced.
Site Visit: December 2019
What it does:
Local Hondurans call the stoves Dos Por Tres, slang for, “In an Instant.” Instantly, these stoves save wood, save time, eliminate toxic smoke from the household, and help the planet by saving miles of forests and reducing carbon emissions by about 3 tonnes per stove per year. To date, the project has avoided the emissions of more than 2 million metric tonnes of CO2 and equivalent gases (mtCO2e).
Cooking in Central America relies on traditional stoves that burn significant amounts of local wood and emit smoke into the home. The stoves are on for eight hours a day and when cooks stand directly over stoves to cook the family tortillas, they breath the smoke that covers the kitchen roofs and walls in soot.
Installed directly in the home, the improved cookstoves are built from locally available cement or adobe bricks. The stove features a thermodynamic rocket elbow design that provides more direct heat to the food with less wood, so food is cooked faster. Families save money by purchasing less wood or save time by gathering less wood, rid the house of smoke, cook faster and, in a Dos por Tres, help save our planet.
Benefits:
- Constructed 210,000 stoves to date, benefitting 874,000 people.
- Monitors each location with GPS & follow-up visits and stores the information in a Salesforce database.
- Saves the equivalent of ~5-9 trees per year per stove or 1.6 metric tonnes of firewood per year.
- Reduces carbon monoxide and particulate matter in the home by 79%.
- Provides 18,000 hours of stove maintenance training and fuel reduction tips each year.
- Created 22 microenterprises and 170 jobs to date.
- Families do not buy a stove; they co-invest in one. They provide bricks and mortar, the project provides construction, know-how, and specialized stove parts
Challenges:
- Working in Honduras can be dangerous due to corruption, drugs, and human trafficking making some areas difficult to access.
- Hurricanes and torrential rains continue to impact build schedules each year.
- In Honduras, the decision to get a cookstove is usually made by the man of the home, who may not think it is important. This restricts stove distribution to families in need.