KLM goes green across Atlantic

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WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. environmental advocacy group lauded the first trans-Atlantic flight from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines that used sustainable biofuels.

KLM announced last week it would use biofuels to power a commercial route from Amsterdam to New York. Biofuels for KLM are supplied by SkyNRG, the first company to get certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels.

RSB Chairwoman and head of international programs for the U.S. National Wildlife Federation Barbara Bramble said the flight opens opportunities other airlines.

"SkyNRG can now assist airlines around the world to fulfill their pledges to reduce carbon emissions while meeting environmental and social safeguards," she said in a statement.

NWF states that switching to greener fuels gives industry leaders options beyond buying carbon offsets.

Jos Nijhuis, president of Dutch investor Schiphol Group, which backed the KLM flight, told The Daily Mail in London the fight was routine apart from its use of converted cooking oil. It says that while biofuels can up reduce emissions as much as 80 percent, it costs about three times as much per gallon than regular jet fuel.