Funds Raised Through Customer Carbon Offsets

Ryanair, Europe’s greenest/cleanest major airline, today (30 Aug) announced support for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group’s latest project as part of its Whaletrack Ireland initiative – a major ongoing study focusing on marine top predators along a 100m stretch of coast from Cork to Galway.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is an organisation dedicated to the conservation of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Ryanair is working with the IWDG on key conservation campaigns throughout the year, including its vital Whaletrack Ireland initiative.

This latest project has already documented 30 individually recognisable humpback whales off the Southwest coast of Ireland – and has confirmed that 26 of these (90%) are known individuals, having been recorded by IWDG in previous years.  Such a high re-sighting rate confirms the importance of the Irish southwest as critical feeding habitat for some of the oceans largest predators.”

Support for this partnership is funded through carbon offset donations – Ryanair customers can now offset the carbon cost of their flight by making a voluntary donation to our climate charity partners at the end of the booking process. Ryanair has also partnered with First Climate, Renature Monchique, and Native Woodland Trust which carry out projects in Uganda, Portugal and Ireland respectively.

Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs said:

 “We are delighted to support the IWDG, through our customer’s carbon offset donations, in their latest Whaletrack Ireland project. These studies are vital to the conservation of Ireland’s whales, dolphins and porpoises – and in turn its broader marine biodiversity –  so it’s great to see these projects in action, documenting a high number of humpback whales and other marine predators off Ireland’s Southwest coast.

 Ryanair is Europe’s greenest/cleanest major airline, operating the youngest fleet (average age of six years) with the highest load factors. With our carbon offsetting initiative we continue to lead the way, and we encourage our customers to continue supporting these exciting partnerships by making carbon offset donations when booking flights on the Ryanair.com website.”

IWDG CEO, Dr Simon Berrow said:

“Whales and dolphins are top predators and their health reflects the health of our oceans. With this latest Whaletrack Ireland project, we hope to learn more about biological and oceanographic features of the 100m contour line from Cork to Galway – which is understood to be a hotbed for marine predators, including dolphins, whales and porpoises.

 With funding support from Ryanair customers, we are learning more about these whales – at population level and as individuals – and gaining vital insights into these charismatic mammals, their ecology, and how they are using our local waters.”