Michelle has a passion for aviation that is evidenced by her two decades in the sector. From flying planes to teaching others how to fly planes to advancing through the analytical and strategic aspects of the sector with Air New Zealand to moving into the airport side of the business with Auckland International Airport, it is fair to say that Michelle has a very thorough understanding of this multi-faceted and highly dynamic industry.
A growing awareness both personally and professionally of the impact of air travel on climate change and the need for immediate action was employed at Auckland International Airport and led to the very natural migration to CarbonClick.
While aviation’s impact on global carbon emissions currently sits at 2-3%, it will soon become more noticeable as many other industries reduce their footprint over the coming years. Couple this with the fact that Sustainable Aviation Fuel will not be widely accessible or commercially viable for a few years, and other alternatives such as hydrogen powered planes are possibly even decades away.
“If the aviation sector is going to get anywhere near its 2050 net zero goal, then positive action needs to start now”, says Michelle. Carbon offsetting through a high-trust programme that is linked to verified projects and is aligned to specific SDG’s presents organisations and their customers with an immediate opportunity to take action and make a difference.
Michelle is quick to point out that there are also flow-on benefits from participating that reach beyond emission targets. “More and more, customers are making conscious choices in their purchasing preferences. This includes the business travel sector where organisations are looking to align their own environmental objectives with suppliers, but more and more this is becoming important to mainstream travellers.” After all, says Michelle, “who doesn’t want to become a ‘climate friendly traveller’ when the opportunity is there.”
This is supported by a 2021 McKinsey & Company ‘CleanSky’ survey, showing that 39% of customers would pay a premium for carbon neutral flights. Amongst younger travellers, 48% would do so.
Michelle is the first to point out that “decarbonising the aviation sector is a big task,” but as awareness increases around the impact of air travel where one long haul flight accounts for around 25% of the average person’s annual carbon footprint, so too the expectation will increase for the opportunity to offset.
As COO, Michelle is a key driver of CarbonClick’s mission to effect immediate action in the fight against climate change and is a passionate champion for enabling this mission across the aviation sector