This is according to professors Brent Ritchie and Sara Dolnicar from the UQ Business School, who are working with Qantas and the Carbon Market Institute on an ARC Linkage Grant-funded project, Encouraging voluntary purchasing of carbon offsets.
“By identifying current barriers to this important scheme for mitigating climate change, we hope to improve consumer uptake of the voluntary purchase of carbon offsets when flying,” says Professor Dolnicar.
“We know very little about consumers’ views of voluntary carbon offsetting and what can stimulate adoption.”
Their project aims to identify the barriers to adopting aviation carbon offsets, develop new communication interventions to overcome these barriers, and experimentally test the impact of communication interventions for flights targeted at these barriers.
By profiling consumers who are interested in voluntarily purchasing carbon offsets, the team hopes to identify motivated travellers who are receptive to experimental carbon offset offers for domestic flights.
As the commercial air travel industry continues to grow, so does its contribution to carbon emissions. Although consumers have been offered the option to carbon offset their flight for an additional fee for more than a decade, adoption levels remain low, at approximately nine per cent of all travellers.
Professor Ritchie wants to identify why the uptake has been so low, and devise solutions to increase it.
The outcomes of this research are timely, given that 2017 is the UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and results may be broadly applicable across the entire sustainability sector.
International agreements such as the United Nations Paris Agreement and national government policies are very important in the reduction of carbon emissions, but they can often take many years to see results, and can be costly and politically charged.
Actions from individual air travellers can provide an avenue to neutralise the carbon emitted from air travel, with only minimal commitment from each individual.
Qantas was one of the first airlines to introduce carbon offsetting, and has the largest carbon offset program in the world – Qantas Future Planet. This existing commitment was a driving force in their selection as a project partner.
The Carbon Market Institute is the peak industry body for carbon market participants. Its members are interested in consumer research, which can provide insights currently lacking and lead to the development of effective communications to increase the adoption of offsets across aviation, energy and agriculture sectors.
Image: iStock.com/chuvipro
Carbon offsetting helps protect precious wildlife habitats like that of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.
The journey so far:
November 2015: Professors Brent Ritchie and Sara Dolnicar win ARC Linkage grant funding to investigate aviation carbon offsetting with the Carbon Market Institute.
March 2016: PhD student Nazila Babakhani completes lab experiments which identify important message elements for improving communication.
July 2016: Qantas Airways Ltd join the ARC Linkage Grant as a partner organisation.
November 2016: Focus groups and in-depth interviews are completed and a report provided to the ARC partners. Paper accepted in Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
March 2017: Team designs lab experiments and communication interventions to be used with Qantas customers.
Image: iStock.com/yupiyan