A carbon footprint is defined by the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with any specific activity or transaction. The carbon footprint of aviation is primarily made of CO2 emissions. Due to the wide range of activities involved and the fuel required, commercial aviation has a carbon footprint accounting for at least 2% of global human-induced CO2 emissions. Due to the constraints of current aircraft technology, all commercial flying today has an unavoidable carbon footprint.

Carbon offsetting is a climate action that enables individuals and organizations to address the CO2 emissions they cannot avoid by supporting projects - like clean-energy producing wind farms or forestry projects - that verifiably reduce, capture, or avoid a proportional amount of CO2 emissions. Said another way, carbon offsetting enables travelers to balance the carbon emissions released as a result of their travelling.

Flight calculations are calculated as a result of fuel burn, passenger load, cargo load, and an adjustment to account for adverse climate impact beyond carbon dioxide (such as nitrous gas and formation of contrails). The calculations are performed at various precision levels:

• By-route is based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) route average emissions.

• Flight number is the most precise, applying specific fuel burn and passenger and cargo load factors for your flight (in line with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) methodology.

Bologna Airport and CHOOOSE are taking into account the full climate impact (Radiative Forcing; RF) of a flight in our offsetting program, not just the CO2 emissions from burning fuel. One of the more significant radiative forcing effects of aviation is caused by the contrail clouds that forms behind an aircraft when it reaches a certain altitude. Like regular cirrus clouds, contrail clouds trap heat radiating from the earth's surface, causing warming in the air below. They form in air altitudes above 25,000 feet when the air is moist and colder than -40 degrees Celsius. While CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere and has a long-lasting effect, contrails last for a matter of hours at most, and their warming impact is temporary. The impact from radiative forcing is estimated to 1.9 of the exhaust-only emissions (Ref. UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) and is automatically calculated and included in your offset. The fact that we include radiative forcing is why the price of a Bologna Airport offset in some cases can be slightly higher than you get with other offset providers that only account for the CO2 emissions.

Projects certified by the Verified Carbon Standard and by the Gold Standard must adhere to the principle of “additionality”. This means that the projects are being realized as a result of the funding. In other words, travellers are not supporting a project that would have been carried out anyway. All projects that CHOOOSE makes available to Bologna Airport's travellers are subject to ongoing and regular monitoring, reporting, and auditing to ensure that they remain in compliance with international standards and operational best practices.

To guarantee that your offset has a climate-positive impact, Bologna Airport has partnered with climate-focused technology company CHOOOSE. From its base in Oslo, Norway, CHOOOSE delivers a platform that enables both individuals and organizations to easily connect with the best CO2e reducing climate projects around the world. Through its API for climate impact, CHOOOSE programmatically calculates your travel footprint and provides you with the option to seamlessly offset your journey through trusted climate projects.