Economy, Business, or First Class? It’s All Carbon Neutral Now: Sara Bogdan, JetBlue (#23)

Feb 18, 2020

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“Our perspective has always been to reduce where we can and offset where we can’t.” – Sara Bogdan

Sara Bogdan is the Manager of Sustainability and Environmental Social Governance at JetBlue Airways, where she runs projects to reduce fuel and waste and prepares the organization for a resource-constrained world. Sara began her career as a researcher of climate change impacts before changing her career path towards business sustainability. Sara was chosen as one of GreenBiz’s 2016 30 Under 30 Emerging Sustainability Leaders and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Earth Science from UC Berkeley and a Master of Environmental Management Energy Science and Corporate Sustainability from Duke University.

Sara joins me today to discuss the aviation business in the climate change era and how JetBlue Airways will achieve its goal of going carbon neutral on all its flights in the U.S. in 2020. She reveals why she has set a personal carbon reduction goal and her motivation to move from research into a climate action based role. She shares how sustainable aviation fuel is made and the considerable emission reductions it provides. Sara also highlights how JetBlue is converting its fleet of ground vehicles to electric models, the on-flight recycling programs, and the airline’s investigations into domestic electric air travel.

 

This week on The Last Environmentalist Podcast:

  • The motivation for setting a personal million metric-ton carbon reduction goal
  • The perception of climate impact for the aviation industry
  • How JetBlue will become the first airline to go carbon-neutral on all its U.S. flights 
  • The projects that JetBlue is supporting as part of its carbon offsetting
  • What sustainable aviation fuel is and how it creates up to an 80% reduction in emissions
  • Investing in sustainable solutions to increase its market share
  • Introducing plug-in electric aviation vehicles on the ground
  • JetBlue’s onboard bottle and can recycling program
  • The short-range electric air travel innovations under review at JetBlue Technology Ventures

Connect with Sara Bogdan:

 

This episode is sponsored by Simbly Furniture

Simbly Furniture is the maker of modern, environmentally responsible, American-made furniture. Simbly’s sleek tables, benches, and desks are made of FSC-certified sustainable wood and shipped directly to customers from a family-owned factory near Asheville, NC.

To learn more about the beautiful, environmentally friendly contemporary furniture at Simbly, visit Simbly.com.

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