Going Green: Can we off-set our carbon footprint if we board flights?

Green campaigner and consumer expert, Angela Terry, separates climate change facts from fiction and explains how you can take simple, practical steps to help save the planet. Follow @ouronehome & visithttps://onehome.org.uk/ for more advice.

Q: Is it okay if I book a flight and then carbon offset it?

A: Now that foreign travel seems to be finally opening up after the pandemic, most of us are looking forward to a well-deserved break in the sun.

I’d love to be able to tell you that carbon offsetting your flight is a way to make it eco-friendly.

However, I’m afraid in reality it’s rarely a credible alternative to not flying.

What is carbon offsetting?

It’s a way of compensating for your carbon dioxide emissions by donating to a scheme designed to make equivalent CO2 reductions.

For example, a seat on a return flight from London to New York generates around 1.8 tonnes of CO2.

You could carbon offset it by donating money to a reforestation project to fund the amount of tree planting required to suck 1.8 tonnes of emissions from the atmosphere.

Online calculators – like My Climate or carbonfootprint.com – will do the sums for you and suggest appropriate projects.

Truly green?

Many environmentalists question the validity of carbon offsetting.

As a spokesperson for European campaign group Transport and Environment has pointed out, it’s like claiming to be on a diet while paying someone else to go to the gym for you.

After all, we need to drastically reduce carbon emissions to keep our planet liveable.

Despite carbon offsetting, your flight is still releasing the same emissions into the atmosphere.

Planting trees

Many carbon offsetting schemes fund tree planting, as trees soaks up carbon dioxide.

As long as the project is credible, this is fantastic.

But it’s not a substitute for cutting your carbon footprint.

We can only tackle the climate crisis if we protect nature and cut emissions.