Collaboration with Zerofootprint offers companies four ways to offset
    emissions

    MONTREAL, July 30 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada, in conjunction with
Zerofootprint, is extending its popular carbon offset program to corporate
clients to make it easier than ever for businesses to meet their green
objectives.
    "Air Canada is the country's preferred airline for business travel so it
is uniquely positioned to help environmentally-conscious companies achieve
their green objectives. With Zerofootprint, we are expanding our carbon offset
program to provide companies easy-to-use and flexible options to offset all or
portions of the carbon emissions resulting from their business travel," said
Charles McKee, Vice President, Marketing, at Air Canada. "We are building on
the success of our collaboration with Zerofootprint which, in little more than
a year, has already seen Air Canada customers voluntarily offset 9417 tonnes
of carbon, the equivalent of taking 2,331 cars off the road for a year."
    "We believe this program will be very attractive to corporations since
carbon presents a new and fundamental challenge to business. More and more
companies are starting to measure and manage their carbon footprint due to
public demand, employee engagement, shareholder interest, and newly defined
sustainability goals," said Deborah Kaplan, Executive Director at
Zerofootprint.
    Air Canada's corporate customers will have access to a dedicated and
secure application at www.zerofootprintflights.com that will provide a
customized solution for offsetting carbon emissions generated by business
travel. Corporations will be able to upload travel data easily, select a
percentage of travel to offset, purchase offsets online, and have the ability
to access and review their past transactions.
    In addition, Air Canada and Zerofootprint are also expanding the number
of carbon offset projects to support. At present, Air Canada customer carbon
offsets are achieved through a forest restoration program in Maple Ridge,
B.C., but corporate customers will have three other certified offset programs
to choose from to better complement their corporate environmental objectives.
These include- A landfill gas recovery project in Niagara Falls, Ontario, that
      captures methane so it can be converted into power for both the
      landfill facility and a nearby mill.

    - A tire recycling program in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, that uses old tires
      to produce a variety of post-consumer goods.

    - The Run of River Hydro Dam upgrade in Ottawa, Ontario, that will see a
      100-year old hydro dam refurbished so it can provide clean and
      renewable power. (Available starting October 2008).Air Canada and Zerofootprint intend to make all these programs available
to individual, retail customers in the near future.
    Carbon offsets are just one way Air Canada is minimizing the
environmental impact of its operations. Among other things, the airline has:
instituted an active weight reduction program and adopted more fuel-efficient
procedures for take-offs and landings; reduced engine usage on the ground
during taxiing and ground delays and cut fuel consumption in the air with more
efficient flight plans; expanded its on-board recycling program; employed
hybrid technology for ground support vehicles; and continually upgraded its
fleet, most recently with the addition of new Embraer and Boeing 777 aircraft,
with a resulting 28 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency since 1990 and
82 per cent since 1970.
    In addition, Air Canada is a lead participant in a voluntary agreement
between Canadian carriers and the Canadian government to achieve fuel
efficiency improvements of 1.1 per cent per year over the period from 1990 to
2012. Through the International Air Transport Association and the
International Civil Aviation Organization, Air Canada is working globally with
other carriers on environmentally-friendly reforms of Air Traffic Management
(ATM) systems. One example is an initiative through ICAO, where a current
proposal to better optimize the European ATM network could result in annual
carbon dioxide savings of about 12 million tons, equivalent to removing
3 million cars from European roads.

    For information on these initiatives see
    www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/zfp.html.

    Montreal-based Air Canada provides scheduled and charter air
transportation for passengers and cargo to more than 170 destinations on five
continents. Canada's flag carrier is the 14th largest commercial airline in
the world and serves 34 million customers annually with a fleet consisting of
335 aircraft. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, providing the
world's most comprehensive air transportation network

    Zerofootprint is a group of companies, including a not-for-profit
organization that helps communities, businesses, and organizations live
ingeniously in a low carbon world. We do green. Zerofootprint combines
technology, risk management, and leading environmental science to develop
innovative carbon measurement and management products. This year Zerofootprint
came in first place and won "gold" at the prestigious Canadian Environmental
Awards for the "Climate Change" category. Some organizations using
Zerofootprint's solutions include the City of Toronto, the City of Edmonton
the City of Ottawa, the University of Guelph, the University of Waterloo, the
Ontario College of Art and Design, and Unilever.