On the Air France website, we book a Paris New York ticket. The one-way price that day is 1273 euros. Before payment, an “Environment” option is offered to us with several possibilities; invest in reforestation, sustainable fuels, or even both. For this, you have to pay between €14.70 and €356.50 extra. Whatever the option chosen and the price, a small diagram tells us that the 490 kilos of carbon emitted by our trip will be totally absorbed.
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Among the reforestation projects supported by Air France, there are plantations in particular in Togo, Mexico, China, but also in France, in Eure-et-Loire for example. Officially there, the project started more than 6 months ago.
Yet on this plot, obviously nothing has grown yet. Not enough, therefore, in the short term, to offset the emissions of my Paris New York flight, according to Sylvain Angerand, forest engineer: “When a tree is planted, in the best case it will take several decades for it to grow. To absorb the equivalent of a Paris New York flight, for example, it will therefore take 30, 40 or 50 years. To say that we are going to plant trees is like saying that we will solve the problem in 50 or 60 years.”
The other option offered by Air France, at 356 euros, is to help it buy sustainable fuels. The problem is that an aircraft engine is certified to accommodate today, at most 50% of green fuel. Insufficient, therefore, in the short term, to decarbonize a flight according to Nicolas Jeulans, expert in sustainable fuels at Safran. According to him, “we cannot, with the snap of our fingers, say that we will decarbonize aviation tomorrow. For now, of course, the volumes [de carburants durables] being low, the reduction impact is also still low.”
Several weeks ago, a petition was born. Associations denounce the “misleading marketing arguments” of Air France on ecology, in other words of “greenwashing“.
According to Romain Morizot, aeronautical engineer and member of the association Les Ateliers ICARE: “We see today that it is a level above. There you have a service that is being sold that is misleading and misleading.”
For its part, the airline, which we contacted, defends itself and ensures that it does not lie to its users: “Our approach is intended to be as transparent as possible. When we talk about reducing emissions, we are not talking about your flight, but about CO2 emissions in general.“
The company also ensures that it will escalate complaints related to the lack of clarity of its “Environment” option.