Any one who flies with some frequency has at least one story of getting delayed, losing luggage, or generally being miserable in transit. In addition to these occasional setbacks, flying has a downside that is present with every flight: the flight emissions that contribute to climate change. Aviation represents about 3.5% of the warming impact caused by humans (source). These tips will help you to reduce your carbon footprint when flying.
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Explore local or drive
One way to reduce your carbon footprint when flying is of course to fly less often. But that doesn’t mean you need to cut out all adventuring!
I often find that my family explores a lot of far off places without doing justice to the locations nearby where we live. The past couple of years we have been going on more local trips. We went on a railway bike ride, rented a cabin, took our daughter fishing, and visited family members and friends. We made a lot of really great memories staying nearby, and saved a lot of money also.
Now that we have 2 kids beyond the age of a free airplane lap child, we also are considering when it is more economical to drive to our destination than to fly. Obviously there are some places that you can’t get to by driving, and sometimes it isn’t practical to drive long distances with young children. But instead of just thinking about the final destination, making the vacation into a road trip allows you to enjoy multiple vistas. This is especially true if you route your trip so that your breaks and stopping points are at sightseeing locations.
Check on google flights for the emissions comparison
If you look for flights on Google, there is a handy comparison for each flight that shows the estimated amount of emissions that result from the flight. Between the number of stops in the flight and the price there is a number with a “CO2e” label. This number shows the lifecycle greenhouse emissions for one passenger for a given flight. It also shows whether that number is higher or lower than a typical flight for that route. For example, a flight that shows +13% emissions has a greater greenhouse gas impact than a typical flight for that flight path.
This tool can be useful to consider if you are trying to decide between two flights. You can also use the estimated greenhouse emission number if you choose to buy carbon offsets (more on that next!)
Consider carbon offsets
Carbon offsets or carbon credits are ways that you can reduce the climate impact of flying. Essentially you support a greenhouse gas reducing activity to offset the amount of carbon that was put into the air. For example, if you find out from Google flights that your travel from New York to Florence added 538 kg CO2e into the air, then you could buy an equivalent carbon offset to cancel it out. A carbon offset project might be planting trees or investing in renewable energy. Groups that sell the offsets are usually verified by groups such as Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard and Climate Action Reserve (source). You will likely want to dig deeper into the concepts of carbon offsets if this is something that interests you as there can be a wide variety of options for buying carbon offsets.
Airline practices evolving
You can also advocate for airline companies to continue to take additional steps to make air travel greener. Some airlines are doing more to recycle cans and cups rather than throwing them away, and you can also try to reduce your waste in flight by minimizing single use plastics. In addition, some planes that are newer are more fuel efficient and can be made out of less environmentally harmful materials.
Find other ways to reduce your carbon emissions
If you can’t avoid flying and you can’t afford carbon offsets, there are other ways that you can reduce your carbon emissions. Some easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint start closer to home, such as switching to renewable energy, buying secondhand clothes, carpooling, and buying energy star appliances.
Carbon emissions are important to consider when living sustainably, but there are other things to consider as well! This post includes some eco-friendly travel tips so that you can incorporate them into your travels.
Conclusion
You don’t need to stop traveling to reduce your carbon footprint from flying. By staying local, comparing flight impact information, and exploring the options to offset your carbon footprint, you have a great vacation without the eco-guilt.
