Offsetters Proud to Support Groupe Aeroplan as one of Canada's top carbon neutral companies

VANCOUVER, June 20, 2011 /CNW/ - As Canada's leading carbon management solutions provider, Offsetters created a customized offset portfolio for Groupe Aeroplan, a leading global loyalty management company, to facilitate Groupe Aeroplan's ongoing commitment to carbon neutrality and offset 100 percent of its direct carbon footprint in 2010.

"As a growing company, we are grateful for the confidence Groupe Aeroplan has in Offsetters to create a customized offset portfolio that resonates with their vision of positive change through the power of partnership," says CEO James Tansey. "Our strength as an organization comes from being provided with the mandate by our many clients to go out and find projects that truly make a difference locally and internationally with regards to climate change."

"When we work with clients like Groupe Aeroplan, we become their partners in helping manage their carbon footprint and reach their goals to become carbon neutral," says Tansey. "This close working relationship is critical to our success in finding the right projects."

Offset projects within Groupe Aeroplan's carbon offset portfolio custom-created by Offsetters include:

• Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada: a biomass boiler and heat curtain installation in a greenhouse that displaces fossil fuel input and reduces the need to import food from great distances.
  
  
• Saint-Félicien, Quebec, Canada: a biomass burner installation project at wood pellet manufacturer, Granules LG, which utilizes residues from the wood pellet manufacturing process in place of natural gas. The project was brought to market by ÉcoRessources Carbone.
  
  
• Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: landfill gas capture and flare for the region's solid waste commission to avoid emissions from methane which have a global warming potential over twenty times greater than carbon dioxide.
  
  
• Lee County, Florida, USA: a waste to energy facility project that avoids landfill waste-generated methane and creates renewable electrical power to the local grid in place of fossil fuelled power.
  
  
• Uganda: efficient cookstoves project that replaces conventional cookstoves with more efficient stoves which use improved combustion efficiency technology that reduces fuel wood consumption by approximately 50% compared to baseline. This new technology will greatly improve indoor air quality which will potentially positively impact respiratory health, birth weights and mortality rates.

The distribution of the new low emission household cookstoves in Uganda has added importance for Offsetters as they are the first Canadian company to co-develop a Gold Standard cookstove project in Africa.

Offsetters has also partnered with Groupe Aeroplan in its continued participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project, an independent international effort that collects high quality carbon footprint information from corporations worldwide. In addition, the company took part in the Prince of Wales May Day initiative in the United Kingdom and issued a greenhouse gas emissions report for analytical use to help reduce the company's overall footprint.

"We have been a carbon neutral company for the last two years and we remain fully committed to our carbon neutral status, despite our rapid international expansion," said Rupert Duchesne, President and CEO of Groupe Aeroplan. "We are pleased to work with Canada's leading carbon management solutions provider to ensure we invest in only top quality offset projects in Canada and abroad."

Along with Groupe Aeroplan, Offsetters works with industry leaders large and small including Harbour Air Seaplanes, the largest floatplane operator in the world, Vancity, Pacific Carbon Trust, FortisBC and A&W Foodservices of Canada. 

About Offsetters
Offsetters is a leading carbon management solutions provider based in Vancouver, BC, helping individuals and companies understand, reduce and offset their climate impact. In 2009, Offsetters was selected as the first ever official supplier of carbon offsets in the history of the Olympic movement for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. In 2009 Offsetters was also selected by the Pacific Carbon Trust as the largest initial supplier of carbon offsets to the BC Crown Corporation. Founded in 2005, Offsetters invests in high-quality projects that achieve tangible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that have happened with its involvement. For more information, visit www.offsetters.ca.

About Groupe Aeroplan
Groupe Aeroplan Inc., a global leader in loyalty management, owns Aeroplan, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, Carlson Marketing, an international loyalty marketing services, engagement and events provider, as well as Nectar, the United Kingdom's largest coalition loyalty program. Groupe Aeroplan also operates LMG Insight & Communication, an international customer-driven insight and data analytics business. In addition, Groupe Aeroplan has majority equity positions in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia as well as a minority position in Club Premier, Mexico's leading coalition loyalty program. For more information about Groupe Aeroplan, please visit www.groupeaeroplan.com.

SOURCE Offsetters Clean Technology

For further information:

Media contacts

Melanie Wong, Offsetters: 604-699-2652 or melanie@offsetters.ca

Michele Meier, Groupe Aeroplan: 514-205-7028 or Michele.Meier@groupeaeroplan.com