Travel and tourism was a $700 billion global moneymaker in 2022, and the industry has shown no signs of slowing. While that is great for the world economy, because travel also requires burning fossil fuels, it could actually be a major contributor to the quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions we put into the atmosphere. Whether it’s by automobile, airplane, bus, or train, emissions are almost all the time an element of travel.
A typical debate centers across the carbon footprint of driving vs. flying. Below, we explore this query to enable you to resolve which is the more sensible choice. We even have suggestions for tips on how to offset your trip-based carbon emissions, whether you’re traveling via plane, train, or automobile.
Carbon Footprint of Driving vs. Flying: What Is the Greenest Option to Travel?
If you desire to reduce your personal carbon footprint in your next trip, a couple of variables come into play when deciding whether it’s higher to drive or fly. These include what number of individuals are traveling with you, the space you’re traveling, and the sort of vehicle you could be driving.
An excellent point of reference is that a cross-country airplane trip from Recent York City to Los Angeles, after which back to Recent York City, would emit 0.62 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per passenger. The identical trip in the common vehicle getting 21.6 miles per gallon would emit 1.26 tons of carbon emissions. So, it might immediately look like flying is the very best bet, right?
In the event you’re flying solo on this trip, you’d be right. Nevertheless, the gap quickly closes if you’ve got multiple people in your loved ones or several friends coming along. As you add more passengers, the quantity of emissions your party produces increases on a flight. In contrast, the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, which trap heat and result in global warming, produced decreases per person when driving.
The break-even point for driving vs. flying in this instance is 2.03 people. So, when you’re traveling with three or more people, driving is the higher option, and here’s why: Three people on the cross-country flight would account for 1.86 tons of carbon emissions (0.62 tons of CO2 x 3), in comparison with the entire 1.26 tons of carbon the vehicle would produce (ignoring that the additional weight would increase the vehicle’s carbon emissions barely). Driving seems to be a fair smarter environmental decision as you increase the variety of passengers in your carpool.
Moreover, a road trip becomes a fair higher option when you own a more fuel-efficient vehicle, reminiscent of a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, or an electric automobile.
How Do You Offset Your Travel?
In the event you’re seeking to lower your carbon footprint beyond selecting the greenest travel option, you possibly can accomplish that through carbon offsets. A carbon offset is once you essentially donate money to a green cause, reminiscent of a factory installing latest carbon emissions-reducing technology or an organization planting several thousand trees on its campus.
So that you donate your money to the emissions-reducing project, and the quantity of carbon your donation helps the corporate stop producing or sequester — meaning absorb from the atmosphere, like many plants do — offsets the carbon emissions out of your trip. Airlines often offer carbon offsets which you could purchase along along with your ticket to assist eco-conscious travelers easily offset their emissions. You may also purchase offsets through other marketplaces.
Terrapass, for instance, offers a big selection of carbon offset options for travelers, including a flight carbon offset option and an ecotourist bundle that offsets the equivalent of either a four-hour flight or 8,600 miles of travel by automobile.
How Do You Offset Carbon From Flying?
For some trips, air travel will be the only logical option as a consequence of time constraints, the necessity to take care of impatient children, or when you’re headed overseas. In these cases, your best bet is to buy carbon offsets so you possibly can rest easy knowing you’ve helped prevent or sequester enough CO2 emissions to offset those you produced by flying.
But how do you go about offsetting aviation emissions? All of it starts with determining the carbon footprint of your flight. Many airlines will let you know precisely how much CO2 a flight emits when booking the flight, but you can even use a carbon footprint calculator, like this carbon calculator from Carbon Footprint, to figure it out.
The calculator will let you know the estimated variety of tons of carbon emissions you’re accountable for on a selected flight. You’ll be able to then purchase the equivalent amount of carbon offsets.
For instance, when you were taking a round-trip flight from Tampa, Florida, to Pittsburgh, you could be accountable for 0.40 metric tons of CO2 emissions. So, you’d need to purchase carbon offsets totaling the identical 0.40 metric tons to turn out to be a net-zero traveler. And don’t worry, while 0.40 metric tons feels like rather a lot, these offsets are quite economical.
What Are Some Examples of Carbon Offsets?
Carbon offsets help fund green initiatives that either help sequester greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere or reduce or eliminate GHG production on the source. Organizations can do that in two ways.
The primary sort of carbon offset initiative is a forestry project. This simply ensures there are more trees on the earth to assist absorb or sequester the CO2 within the atmosphere. This could be done through supporting an organization’s commitment to not take part in deforestation or to plant latest trees.
The opposite sort of carbon offset initiative is an energy project. These projects are generally more complex than forestry ones. They’ll include supporting firms in a big selection of efforts to make use of less energy, reminiscent of:
- Switching to renewable energy sources and clean energy (solar panels, wind turbines, etc.)
- Installing energy-efficient equipment, like replacing incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs and using Energy Star appliances (fridges, air-con, etc.)
- Developing business procedures that reduce energy use or increase sustainability
- Installing a fleet of green vehicles (hybrid or electric vehicles)
How Do You Travel With a Low Carbon Footprint?
Low carbon footprint travel is a vital a part of helping slow and hopefully reverse man-made climate change, while still having the ability to travel and luxuriate in yourself. You’ll be able to take many actions to cut back the climate impact of your travel and produce less carbon with the next climate motion suggestions:
Avoid Short Flights
Avoiding flights altogether could devastate global tourism, in order that isn’t a viable option. As a substitute, deal with reserving air travel for long distances. In the event you’re traveling 200 miles or less, search for alternative travel modes.
For instance, while a flight would emit around 109 kilos of CO2 per passenger on a 200-mile trip, that trip on a train or charter bus would emit just 26 and 19 kilos of CO2 per passenger, respectively. As a solo rider, driving a automobile wouldn’t help lower your emissions — it will be higher than air travel, at 120 kilos of CO2. Though when you had 4 people within the automobile, the air pollution you’d emit would fall to simply 30 kilos of CO2 per passenger.
Go Nonstop
When a long-haul flight is a must, all the time aim for a nonstop flight or the one with the fewest stops. Taking essentially the most direct flight path reduces the miles you travel within the air, lowering the carbon emitted per passenger.
One other fact is that jets produce essentially the most carbon emissions during takeoff and landing. With each stop, that’s one other landing and one other takeoff you’re a part of, increasing your carbon footprint. With essentially the most direct flight, you minimize your environmental impact.
Follow Economy Class
While top notch and business class seats are larger and the service is often superior, those seats also take up significantly more room on the plane. Your carbon footprint on a flight is decided by how much space you devour on the plane, so those larger seats can double your carbon footprint or more.
So, save a bit money and reduce your carbon footprint by booking economy tickets as a substitute of choosing those big, comfortable seats.
Limit Your Luggage
The more you’ve got in your suitcase, the heavier it’s, and the more energy (fuel) is required to maneuver it, which increases your carbon footprint. Limiting your luggage could make a reasonably large dent in your carbon footprint.
For instance, when you reduce your luggage weight by 15 kilos on a 10-hour flight, you possibly can cut your emissions by roughly 80 kilos. If there are 150 people in your flight, that’s 12,000 kilos of emissions cut in the event that they all make this small change.
You’ll be able to lower your luggage weight by packing items you possibly can wear multiple times without washing or items you possibly can easily wash during your travels. You may also leave larger, heavier items, reminiscent of camping gear, behind and rent those at your destination.
An additional benefit is that many airlines now offer discounted tickets for those not checking baggage. So, when you can limit your luggage to simply a small carry-on bag, you possibly can avoid wasting money and help the planet.
Use Public Transport or Carpool
If you finally reach your destination, go for public transportation to get around as a substitute of a private vehicle. As we mentioned earlier, buses offer among the lowest per-passenger carbon footprint numbers when it comes to transportation.
You may also carpool with others to cut back the quantity of carbon per person.
How Much Will It Cost to Get to Net Zero?
Becoming a net-zero emissions traveler is significant to many individuals, but a giant concern is what it can cost to accomplish that. Fortunately, most of the carbon footprint-reducing ideas above may also prevent money, like skipping air travel for brief trips, carpooling, booking an economy ticket, and lightening your luggage. But these alone won’t get you to turn out to be a net-zero traveler.
To succeed in net-zero status, you’ll have to offset your remaining carbon emissions by purchasing carbon offsets. To find out how much this may cost you, you have to first use a carbon emissions calculator, just like the one mentioned above, to calculate your total emissions. Then, determine the associated fee of the carbon offsets required to bring your net carbon emissions to zero.
So, in case your carbon footprint from a flight was 1,000 kilos of CO2, you’d have to purchase 1,000 kilos of carbon offsets. With a Terrapass Flight Carbon Offset, this may cost you only $8.00 per person.
Green Travel Doesn’t Mean Depriving Yourself
There’s no denying that travel impacts the growing global warming and climate change crisis, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to present up taking trips. As a substitute, for every destination you’ve got in mind, deal with determining the carbon footprint of driving vs. flying to search out the higher option. A bus or train may even be preferable.
When you’ve selected your transportation, reduce your personal carbon footprint further through other actions, like taking less luggage and selecting public transport when you arrive. Finally, make your travel net zero by purchasing carbon offsets.
Terrapass may help with that last part — we provide a big selection of carbon removal options designed specifically to enable you to achieve net-zero travel emissions, no matter your mode of transportation: flying, driving, riding a bus, or taking a train.
Delivered to you by terrapass.com
Featured image:
