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4AIR, the first and only sustainability rating program dedicated to private aviation, today announced that it will be partnering with Clay Lacy Aviation to offer a 4AIR sustainability rating to Clay Lacy aircraft while also certifying the company’s facilities in Oxford, CT; Van Nuys, CA; San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; and Orange County, CA, as carbon-neutral, and awarding their facilities a 4AIR Rating for 2020. 4AIR will validate their carbon offsets, reductions generated from Clay Lacy’s use of solar energy, and affirm the company’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of their facilities and flying activities for 2020 and in the future.
“4AIR not only offers turnkey sustainability solutions but, as the only rating system for private aviation emissions reduction, will evaluate and independently verify Clay Lacy Aviation’s sustainability program,” said Kennedy Ricci, 4AIR’s president. “We can give Clay Lacy Aviation, its stakeholders and its customers the assurance that the program is meeting its goals and reducing emissions at levels equal to those generated by the flights as well as ground activity.”
The 4AIR program provides a simplified, verifiable path to mitigating the environmental impact of private aviation activities, and will provide Clay Lacy Aviation with three services:
- 4AIR will rate the greenhouse gas assessments for Clay Lacy Aviation facilities and participating aircraft under management. In addition, 4AIR will review offsets, standards, verification, validation and retirement of carbon credits and ensure that they meet the criteria set forth by industry-leading standards and 4AIR rating guidelines.
- Any aircraft managed by Clay Lacy Aviation participating in an emissions reduction program can be certified 4AIR Bronze, indicating that their operation is carbon-neutral by virtue of offsetting all of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with verified carbon offset credits. These credits will fund specific, verified, real-world projects intended to offset carbon emissions.
- Since 4AIR’s program is progressive, aircraft owners using Clay Lacy Aviation for management of their aircraft have a clear path for elevating their commitment to sustainability. For example, aircraft owners could move to a higher 4AIR Silver rating by making their aircraft emissions-neutral, offsetting not just CO2 emissions but other pollutants including water vapor, soot and contrails. Owners could go even further and, by opting-in to using Sustainable Aviation Fuels provided by Clay Lacy Aviation, be eligible for a 4AIR Gold rating.
Founded in 1968, Clay Lacy Aviation offers aircraft management, charter, maintenance, avionics, interiors, aircraft cleaning and FBO services. In 2020, it developed a comprehensive sustainability program in order to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. It seeks both to reduce the carbon footprint of Clay Lacy Aviation facilities and provide the company’s clients with a simple way to reduce the impact of their flying activity.
“Clay Lacy Aviation is committed to reducing our carbon footprint in a responsible manner, doing the right thing, and making it easier for our clients to do the same,” said Scott Cutshall, Senior Vice President, Business Operations. “4AIR’s validation of our efforts provides further confidence in the actions we are taking, ensuring the transparency of every carbon credit retired, confirming the positive impact of our adoption of solar energy, use of biodiesel in our ground service equipment, and ongoing commitment to providing Sustainable Alternative Fuel.”
Added Nancy Bsales, 4AIR’s Chief Operating Officer, Sustainability, “Clay Lacy and the company he founded have been pioneers in private aviation for more than a half-century, and we are proud to partner with them as leaders on sustainability by reducing their carbon emissions and their impact on the environment.”
About the 4AIR Rating Program
The 4AIR Rating – the first and only rating system focused on sustainability in private aviation –offers benchmarks that are aligned with industrywide goals and consistent with international standards. The framework offers four levels, each with specific, science-based goals, independently verified results and progressively greater impacts on sustainability:
4AIR Bronze: Carbon-Neutral
4AIR Bronze allows participants to be carbon-neutral by offsetting all of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with verified carbon offset credits.
4AIR Silver: Emissions-Neutral
Two-thirds of an aircraft’s environmental impact comes from non-carbon dioxide warming pollutants such as water vapor, soot and contrails. 4AIR Silver enables participants to be fully emissions-neutral, compensating for non-CO2 impacts with verified offsets.
4AIR Gold: Emissions Reduction
4AIR Gold allows participants to go beyond emissions neutrality to actually reducing emissions by at least 5 percent through solutions such as using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or purchasing SAF credits through 4AIR.
4AIR Platinum: Climate Champion
4AIR Platinum allows participants to support new technology in aviation with a contribution to the Aviation Climate Fund, aimed at supporting research and development in aviation sustainability.
This press release was prepared and distributed by 4Air.
