SILVERJET, a business-class long-haul carrier, is to become the world’s first carbon-neutral airline.

Under the plan, Silverjet — a tiny company that has yet to start flights — will include a compulsory carbon charge in its ticket prices.

Passengers will be awarded carbon points for each flight, which can then be used to invest in green projects chosen by the airline. These projects include wind-power generation in India, free light bulbs for poor families in Jamaica, and a programme that uses carbon credits to improve energy efficiency on the island.

British Airways gives passengers the option to pay a fee to offset the carbon emissions created by their flight. The charge for a return flight to Johannesburg, for example, is £13.30.

Silverjet floated on AIM earlier this year, raising £25m from investors. The company is due to start its all-business-class flights from Luton to New York at the end of January. Tickets will cost about £999, undercutting average business fares of £2,260.

Silverjet, which is working with the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, said the exact cost of the carbon charge had yet to be calculated, but was likely to be between £10 and £20 for each passenger.

Lawrence Hunt, chief executive of Silverjet, denied that the airline was jumping on a green bandwagon. He said: “As grown-up people we all have to do something about climate change and as the management of an airline company we can do something material. If the airline industry does not do something about it then it will get regulated to hell by the European and UK governments.”

The move comes as the industry has been accused of being the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases and come under particular fire in the wake of the Stern Report into climate change. Critics claim that by 2050 aviation will account for all the carbon permits that will be available under the EU’s emissions-trading system.

Some airline chiefs have reacted angrily. Andy Harrison, chief executive of low-cost airline Easyjet, recently described the claims as “alarmist crap”. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, has said the aviation industry is responsible for a mere 2% of EU carbon emissions.

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