NBAA has announced the members of its inaugural class in its audit-based Sustainable Flight Department Accreditation program. According to NBAA, the program provides a standardized way for its members to demonstrate measures they are taking to reduce their environmental footprints.

Launched earlier this year, the program—which was designed to promote industry sustainability best practices—is not limited to flight departments. The standard provides education on and checklists of activities ranging from sustainable aviation fuel use to recycling to minimizing energy usage. It includes four areas of action: flight, ground support, operations, and infrastructure.

Applicants can register for evaluations in one or up to all four areas. The initial accreditees include Mente (flight), Monarch Air Group dba Mercury Jets (operations), Netflix (flight, operations, ground support, and infrastructure), Steelcase (flight), and Textron Aviation’s Wichita service center (ground support). Several entities that wished to remain anonymous were also accredited.

"This is a pivotal moment for our industry’s commitment to sustainability,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “We are taking bold strides to drastically reduce our impact on the climate and meet our goal of net-zero flight by 2050.”