The new Gen Av carbon-offset programs let you have your jet and eat the heat-trapping gases it produces, too.

This past July, musicians from around the world traveled to eight different countries to perform at Live Earth, raising awareness about global warming — and catching no end of biodegradable you-know-what for flying carbon dioxide–emitting private jets to the event. What the pundits didn’t realize (or chose not to mention) was that these emissions were being offset through carbon credits.

Originally developed for auto and factory emissions and commercial air travel, carbon offsets are now finding their way into a sector that — fairly or not — is considered a principal contributor to global warming. Indeed, the environmentally conscious private-fantail producer now has several options for dealing with his flyer’s remorse.

Both TerraPass (which started as a Wharton class project) and Carbonfund.org were launched in 2004 to cater to the DIY type. The services let you determine your carbon emissions online by entering your flights, then tallies the bill for the requisite offset for that amount of CO2. The money you pay goes toward renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects and (in the case of Carbonfund.org) tree-planting programs. In both cases, an independent third-party environmental firm verifies that the money is, in fact, used to reduce the advertised amount of carbon.

Like any good charter service, Cerulean Jets does more of the work for you. The Atlanta-based company recently partnered with the Texas-based Green Mountain Energy Company to offset 100 percent of its planes’ CO2 emissions for one year. Cerulean uses its own money to pay for the offsets, which help fund energy-efficiency projects.

The final emissions-offset category is more akin to an enviro plane-management company. Launched this past June in Bend, Oregon, by veteran pilot and businessman Jeff Witwer, the Carbon Neutral Plane Program charges $120 a year plus a $500 start-up fee to audit your logbooks and calculate your carbon emissions for the past year, then purchases an equivalent amount of carbon credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange. These credits — tradeable commodities bought by entities such as Ford and IBM from CO2-emissions-reducing projects — are considered one of the more effective big-picture strategies for combating climate change, and participants receive an official dated sticker from the exchange certifying their plane as carbon- neutral for the year. That could be an effective trump card the next time your teenage daughter scolds you for “destroying the planet.” And if that still doesn’t do the trick: Just tell her it’s good enough for Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls.

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