September 4, 2024

IBAC has renewed its alliance with Carbon Trade eXchange (CTX) to provide a new transparent and efficient platform for business aviation companies to voluntarily purchase carbon credits to offset their CO₂ emissions as part of an overall sustainability plan. The new ACE platform is hosted at offsetflights.com.

While signing up for full CTX membership remains the preferred option for those anticipating a larger number of trades, the new B-to-B ‘retail’ platform provides a much quicker, easier path for smaller purchases, with CTX providing a pre-selected registry of high-quality offsets, starting at 100 tonnes.

The IBAC Carbon Credit Exchange was created by the partnership with CTX, which introduced the world’s first electronic exchange for high-quality voluntary carbon credits in real-time more than 16 years ago. Business aviation organizations can choose from a wide range of offset projects certified by the world’s leading carbon credit standards:

• The Gold Standard 

• UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)

As identified in the Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change (BACCC), out-of-sector measures, including high-quality offsets, are part of the ICAO basket of measures to help the industry achieve carbon-neutral growth and contribute ultimately to the industry target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Carbon credits can be used in the near term as a supplement to other decarbonization actions, such as operational improvements, use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and newer, more efficient aircraft, contributing to emissions reductions now while the benefits of other measures accumulate over the longer term.

IBAC Director General, Kurt Edwards commented, “While the industry strives to meet its decarbonization goals directly, offsetting is a supplemental tool that allows operators to take mitigation action by financing carbon reductions achieved in projects outside the sector. With this new retail platform, we are pleased to see our partnership with CTX further evolve.”

Carbon Trade Exchange CEO Wayne Sharpe is buoyant, saying, “the best way to start reducing emissions is to cost them in the business, and our low-cost solution helps maximize results for the Business Aviation sector. Importantly, operators can choose the projects from a ‘curated’ quality selection from around the world they choose to support. We are very proud to be part of this game changing solution with such fabulous business aviation leadership on a global scale.”

Once carbon credits are purchased on the ACE platform, they are immediately canceled by CTX. Unique offset certificates of cancelation that cannot be resold or claimed again are then provided to the buyer. There are no intermediaries between CTX and Project Developers, resulting in an efficient and transparent offset purchasing experience, and the ACE platform only sells credits listed on CTX - which number in the many millions.

Please visit the IBAC-EX web page for more details or go to CTX-Business Aviation Carbon Offsetting. Contact info@IBAC.org or with questions to CTX at IBAC@ctxglobal.com.

About IBAC

IBAC represents the interests of business aviation worldwide. IBAC is a non-profit, international trade association with official observer status at the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN Specialized Agency for aviation matters, in Montreal, Canada. IBAC promotes and manages the industry-leading standards for best safety practices through its International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO^TM); International Standard for Business Aviation Handling (IS-BAH^TM); Safety Management Tool Kit; SMS eLearning training; and Crew Card. In partnership with CTX, the IBAC Carbon Credit Exchange provides the business aviation community with a reliable resource for real-time offsetting to reduce its carbon footprint. More details at www.ibac.org

About ACE

Aviation Carbon Exchange (ACE) was conceived and pre-developed by CTX CEO Wayne Sharpe in 2015, the trademark was fully registered in 2020. It has now been relaunched to satisfy the demands of the IBAC Business Aviation associations’ members who see joining CTX as too onerous or costly, and only have relatively small offset demands of 100 – 5,000 tCO₂ per year.

About CTX

Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX) is the first and still the only global electronic exchange for the voluntary carbon market, operating successfully for over 16 years, traded hundreds of millions of Carbon Credits certified by the major international standards, that have been securely transacted by corporates, project developers, brokers, and NGOs. CTX offers a comprehensive, transparent, and secure electronic marketplace for buyers and sellers.