In cooperation with myclimate, Edelweiss has been offering the opportunity to offset flights within the booking process on the Edelweiss website since June. If a guest books a flight on flyedelweiss.com, myclimate calculates the resulting carbonemissions during the booking process as well as the amount required for carbon offsetting. The guest can voluntarily offset this amount with a mouse click. The offsetting amount is then paid together with the ticket price and flows into myclimate projects that offset the same amount of emissions.
Mr. Meier, what made Edelweiss decide to offer your customers offsetting in this way?
Air transport is a growth sector, enabling prosperity and the international mobility of people. However, aviation also accounts for just under three percent of global CO₂ emissions. This obliges us to act. Edelweiss and the Lufthansa Group are already doing a lot to minimise the impact of our activities. Among other things, we offset all business trips. By integrating carbon offsetting into the booking process on our website, we would like to sensitise our guests to the topic and make the step towards carbon offsetting as simple as possible. And we believe that we have succeeded.
How did the process go? What technical hurdles had to be overcome?
To collect the donations and record them separately, we needed interfaces to the myclimate database, technical adjustments to ticket booking for offsetting, technical adjustments to the payment recording and booking process, an interface to the Edelweiss Air Accounting Tool and additional reporting. To do this, we were able to rely on internal experience, and for the rest we had to involve external providers.
How have your customers responded to the offer so far?
The offer is very well received by our guests. The success of the project can be seen in the conversion rate: Whereas the conversion rate for conventional standalone emission calculators was in the single-digit per mille range, it is now 4.6%. This far exceeds our expectations.
How does taking this step fit into your company's strategy?
We would like our offers and products to make travelling and holidays uncomplicated and more pleasant for our guests. At the same time, as a company we have a great responsibility towards people and the environment, which we assume and embody under the auspices of our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme. The possibility for our guests to quickly and easily offset their CO₂ emissions therefore excellently fits with our strategy and values.