Carbon Offset Program
Recognizing our carbon footprint and how we can help mitigate it
100% Carbon Offset Operations
Under Blackcomb Helicopters, AlpX business operations are 100% carbon offset.
We get it, helicopters burn jet fuel and the impact of every hour flown affects our environment in a negative way. We take ownership over the impact our business has, and in order to do our part, we offset 100% of our emissions from all levels of our operations. This includes our offices, employee commutes, waste to landfill, and of course all of our flight hours (fuel burn). We are also constantly looking at ways to improve operations (reduce emissions and waste) and keep up to date on improvements in our industry.
Our helicopters have many essential services attached to our operations including Search and Rescue, Wildfire Suppression, and Essential Services (hydro, roads, waterways, forests etc.). Although tourism is non-essential, it does serve its own purpose within our operation by providing a consistent revenue stream that allows us to continue owning and operating the helicopters and staff required for our other operations that may only appear in times of crisis.
Tourism also provides an outlet for people to be carried away into the beautiful backcountry of British Columbia and appreciate the wilderness around us and how incredible of an opportunity it is that we’re able to enjoy it for years to come. Flying over our receding glaciers and scorched forests are a constant reminder of how we can do better in our daily lives so that we’re able to continue recreating in the greatest place on earth.
You can find out more about our Carbon Offset program below. We also hope you take part in our optional carbon positivity program during your alpine expedition with us.
+ What does Carbon Offsetting mean?
This means we have measured the greenhouse gases emitted during each hour of flight from all of our helicopters operating along with all carbon emissions from our business operations. We have mitigated these emissions from operations by purchasing the equivalent amount in carbon offsets. This money then helps advance large-scale conservation in British Columbia with Nature Conservancy Canada.
We choose to support local BC projects that require funding to protect, research, and expand on conservation areas. The increased carbon that is being stored and sequestered as a result of changing old logging practices to new conservation practices are verified on a yearly basis, and are guaranteed to preserve forests for at least 100 years. The forest conservation projects that we fund meet the highest international standards available today for the voluntary carbon market, ensuring that we will create a noticeable difference for the planet.
+ What is a carbon offset?
A carbon footprint is an inventory calculating all the GHGs emitted by a person or business over a specific time period. To be carbon neutral, one needs to purchase the equivalent number of offsets as the amount of GHG emissions they emit.
Beginning in 2018, we committed to offset all of our tourism flights - and then in 2019, moved to offset ALL of Blackcomb Helicopters emissions therefore neutralizing the climate impact of those flights. The offset project that we’ve chosen to support is the Darkwoods Forest Carbon Project with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
+ Who audits our carbon footprint?
Synergy Enterprises is a British Columbian corporate sustainability management firm founded on the principle that business can make a positive impact on the planet. They specialize in corporate sustainability strategies and carbon accounting for tourism, airports, manufacturing, industry associations and more. Synergy calculates Blackcomb Helicopters carbon footprint to determine how many offsets must be purchased, which then go towards environmental conservation and regeneration projects.
+ What projects do our offsets support?
The carbon offsets that we have purchased provide support to the following local Canadian-based projects.
Great Bear Forest Carbon Project (GBFCP) - 50%
The GBFCP is the first carbon offset project in North America to be implemented on traditional territory with unextinguished Aboriginal rights and Title. The project increases carbon sequestration stocks through conversion to protected forests that were previously available for commercial logging. As an Old Growth Forest, this region plays an important role in capturing and storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide. The trees and soil in the Great Bear Rainforest store more carbon per hectare than any of the world’s tropical rainforests, including the Amazon. The Coastal First Nations are the project proponents and own the carbon offsets, and revenue generated from all sales goes directly to the First Nations communities. Proceeds are used to generate environmental steward jobs in the communities and support community development, youth programs and seniors' centres.
BC Greenhouse Biomass to Energy Project - 25%
The BC Greenhouse Biomass to Energy Project achieves GHG emission reductions by switching from using natural gas, a fossil fuel, to heat greenhouses to using biomass, a less GHG-intensive fuel source. In the absence of this Project, the biomass used to offset fossil fuel combustion would instead have decomposed in a stockpile, storage, or landfill through anaerobic decomposition. By preventing the decomposition of organic wood waste in landfills, methane emissions will be avoided. Methane is a powerful GHG with a Global Warming Potential approximately 25 times that of carbon dioxide and is passively released during the anaerobic decomposition of waste biomass in landfills.
Smart Soil Carbon Project - 25%
The Smart Soil Carbon Project is an agricultural carbon offset aggregation project that aims to enhance soil carbon sequestration by adopting conservation cropping practices - a more sustainable approach to farming. The transition from full tillage to no-tillage not only reduces fossil fuel carbon emissions but also decreases Nitrogen fertilizer emissions. This voluntary project involves over 45 growers across 299,367 acres of land in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
+ What is the Carbon Positivity Program?
Our Carbon Positivity Program gives customers the option of purchasing carbon offsets to counter the emissions created from their activity. Blackcomb Helicopters (AlpX) already offsets 100% of emissions from business operations so this allows our customers to double the carbon offsets bought for their activity (taking it from carbon neutral to carbon positive). These carbon offsets will continue to go directly to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to help large-scale, permanent land conservation.
This is an optional add-on available when booking.