Voluntary Emissions Contribution Programme FAQs

Air travel creates carbon dioxide emissions as well as other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

When you make a Voluntary Emissions Contribution with Air New Zealand, half your contribution goes to Trees That Count to support native nature projects around New Zealand which have biodiversity and carbon benefits.

The other half of your contribution goes towards sustainable aviation fuel, a form of alternative jet fuel commonly referred to as SAF, which has lower lifecycle emissions than traditional fossil fuels. Apart from reducing flying, SAF is considered one of the main ways to decarbonise air travel today.

Sustainable aviation fuel is a form of alternative jet fuel commonly referred to as SAF. It's almost chemically identical to conventional jet fuel but is made from raw materials like used cooking oil or forestry waste instead of fossil fuels.

SAF is being used in small amounts by airlines now all around the world, including Air New Zealand. It releases the same amount of carbon as regular fuel when it's used in an aircraft, but SAF has lower carbon emissions over its lifecycle because of what it's made from and how it's made.

SAF is a "drop in" fuel. It's bought by airlines and blended with jet fuel, and then it's delivered into the aviation fuel system that all airlines use at airports. It forms a small part of the overall fuel mix that powers an aircraft. However, it's currently between two to five times the cost of jet fuel and in short supply globally so it needs to scale significantly.

Lifecycle emissions are a globally accepted scientific concept. They relate to the emissions from making, transporting and using the fuel - including the emissions absorbed by the raw materials. For example, the lifecycle emissions of jet fuel made from plants will include the carbon dioxide absorbed by those plants when they grew.

No. Your Voluntary Emissions Contribution doesn't offset, change or lower the carbon emissions on your booked flight, and SAF isn't necessarily used on your flight. 

However, when you make a Voluntary Emissions Contribution, we estimate your share of your booked flight's emissions and give you the option to contribute to a small portion of SAF which has been delivered into the aviation fuel system.  The equivalent emissions savings from that portion are allocated to you and no other passengers.

Buying native trees through our partner, Trees That Count, also doesn't offset your emissions, but it does enable planting of native trees to support biodiversity and carbon absorption in New Zealand's native forests.

Yes. While SAF may not be on your flight, when you make a Voluntary Emissions Contribution, the emissions savings from SAF can be allocated to you and no other passengers.

For every flight, emissions are counted by both Air New Zealand in our emissions reporting and by our passengers in their personal carbon footprint. SAF can reduce Air New Zealand's own emissions footprint and also be allocated to passengers or freighters to reduce their own carbon footprint.

When you make a Voluntary Emission Contribution, our partner Chooose records this, and Air New Zealand then retires these emissions savings on your behalf, so they can't be allocated to any other customer. These emissions savings are often referred to as SAF "certificates" or "SAFc". This follows globally accepted best practice for emission reduction claims through SAF.

Not at the moment, however the kilograms of emissions savings will be shown to you on-screen during your booking process, which you can keep a record of. If you're interested in reporting your emissions savings via SAF in the future, we'd love to hear from you.

Air New Zealand is buying small amounts of SAF, which is currently between two and five times the cost of fossil jet fuel. In the 2025 financial year, SAF made up ∼1.6% of our total fuel, and we're targeting 10% SAF by 2030.

Half* your Voluntary Emissions Contribution supports Air New Zealand's use of SAF, and the other half goes to our partner, Trees That Count, to fund native nature and biodiversity projects around Aotearoa New Zealand.

*An administration fee of 15% is deducted by our partner, Chooose, to sell SAFc on our behalf.  For more information, see Chooose's Terms and Conditions.

No. If you contribute less, your emissions reductions will be smaller, and you'll support fewer native trees. The suggested contribution you see when booking reflects the maximum impact you can make.

No. Air New Zealand doesn't make any margin or profit on our customers' Voluntary Emissions Contributions. Your contribution goes towards supporting Air New Zealand's use of SAF, and to buying native trees through Trees That Count.

When you make a Voluntary Emissions Contribution, we calculate your share of emissions from your booked flight. We then offer you 5% of the equivalent emissions savings via SAFc. The price you pay is based on the amount of emissions savings and the price of SAFc. For the trial, Air New Zealand is subsidising the price of SAFc for our passengers by more than 70%.

Note: Due to rounding, the SAF you're purchasing may look slightly higher or lower than 5%.

We're trialling having different proportions of SAF available for our customers to contribute towards, so there will be some variation over the course of the trial. The aviation industry is working towards 5% emissions reductions using SAF by 2030. If you're interested in buying more, we'd love to hear from you. 

SAF is bought by airlines, blended and delivered into the aviation fuel system in airports. For the trial, the SAF you're contributing to was uplifted in Singapore. Air New Zealand has had SAF deliveries into Auckland, Wellington, and Singapore, and has ongoing supply into the USA.

Carbon credits contribute to projects that help reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions outside of a company's direct operations/value chain. Carbon credits are referred to globally as "offsetting" or "Beyond Value Chain Mitigation" because they "make up for" or mitigate the carbon, but in a system outside where the original emissions occurred.

In comparison, the term "insetting" is used globally to refer to efforts to tackle the problem from within the same system eg SAF reduces the lifecycle carbon emissions within aviation. Using SAFc to contribute to reducing emissions is considered "insetting" globally.

Air New Zealand is currently trialling SAF contributions in place of carbon credits. We know some customers like the option of carbon credits and we hope you'll consider opting into SAF instead while we trial this aviation-specific option.

Yes, the SAF Air New Zealand purchases is International Sustainability & Carbon Certification European Union (ISSC-EU) certified.

For the trial, your Voluntary Emissions Contribution is going towards SAF produced from used cooking oil that can deliver up to a 90% lifecycle emissions reduction compared to fossil jet fuel. This is determined using the CORSIA accounting methodology.