Willingness to pay for flying carbon neutral in Australia: an exploratory study of offsetter profiles

Although voluntary carbon offsets have played a key role in the response to addressing climate change in the aviation sector, little is known about consumer preferences for such offsets and their offsetting behaviour in Australia. This paper developed and applied a choice modelling study to measure the economic values of aviation carbon mitigation and to identify major factors influencing air travellers’ voluntary climate action. Results show that respondents have a mean willingness to pay (WTP) of AU$21.38 per tonne of CO₂ reduced in the form of voluntary carbon offsets per person. Female travellers might have a higher economic value of carbon mitigation than male counterparts while climate sceptics who are less likely to be carbon offsetters might in fact hold a higher WTP value than non-sceptical travellers. The findings suggest that in terms of WTP the best profile of offset projects might be renewable energy projects in developing countries, of which resulting carbon credits can reduce company legal liabilities. Positive support was found for mitigation measures by airlines, with technological efficiencies more strongly supported than operational practices and biofuels. This paper challenges previous understandings of environmentally motivated behaviour, and notes that behaviour profiles are still evolving.