10 Sep 2020

How an apple started a carbon offset revolution

The Carbon Offset Apple

This is the story of how a simple idea to connect people with real climate impact has grown into a solution that easily clips the carbon from the travel ticket. It features a small team of people with a gigantic desire to win. To change the world. To leave a better tomorrow.

This week our company marked a mammoth milestone which I will go into in a moment. But the win was landed after a demanding long-haul journey that could only be accomplished by a team with unique skills and grit who believed in our company values: Trust in one another. Excellence in what we do. Mindfulness in the way we weave our passion for our work with what nourishes us at home.

These values have shaped our expedition towards bringing real climate change impact to the fingertips of travellers around the world.

And it all started with an apple.

Seven years ago…

Our now Chairman, Andrew Grant pensively sliced an apple in his Mornington backyard and pondered his next business move. A simple note to himself sketched the audacious idea of developing a business that gave people the ability to make real impact on cutting emissions through their everyday spend.

Four years ago…

That same man rang me out of the blue and asked if I would be willing to fly to Melbourne, hire a car and meet him at his Mornington office about a job.

The ‘interview’ process was simple.  He said: “We will spend the day together. If I like you, and you like me, and you are motivated to do what we think is possible, then you will have a contract in hand to ponder on the plane home to Sydney”.

His idea of ‘’what was possible’’ centred around enabling travellers to go carbon neutral on their trip. It wasn’t a new concept, but the point of difference was it needed flawless carbon emissions calculations and genuine carbon offset projects that customers could trust.

At the time, we knew nothing like it existed in the market. There was no platform that empowered customers to make the difference they so desired, with credible offset options.

Today…

We went live with Webjet enabling customers to do just what we planned.

Through BlueHaloTM – software developed by our brilliant team of engineers – we’ve delivered a sophisticated end-to-end solution that gives Webjet customers the ability to instantly calculate and offset their travel.

The solution engages hearts as well as heads because it’s been crafted by our magical creative mastermind and brought to market by a passionate, somewhat fanatical team driven to steer as much carbon finance into life-changing offset projects as possible.

Tomorrow…

We plan to grow. Not for the sake of growth but because everyone should be travelling carbon neutral. If we did, we would cut the 2% of global emissions from aeroplanes to zero. Instantly. We could eliminate our hotel footprints and our car rental footprints. We can do this today. All for the sake of a better tomorrow.

So as I look back on the journey our company has been on, I admire the team that made it happen. A team that has stuck to its (apple) core values. A team delivering carbon offset solutions that are taking off and bearing fruit for future generations to pick and contemplate their own big ideas.

Adrian Enright is General Manager Corporate; passionate about surfing, family and the unrelenting quest for a healthier future planet.