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.

Also, it’s good to be aware that the timescales around carbon offsetting and tree projects are long-term.

For example, a newly-planted tree can take more than 20 years to capture the CO2 that a scheme promises.

Considering the urgency of the climate crisis, this is not helpful.

We’ve also seen with the spread of wildfires – from Australia to the Amazon – that young trees cannot be guaranteed to trap carbon permanently in a warming world.

Fairness

The majority of people taking flights are relatively wealthy, while the people who are already suffering the most because of climate change live in poorer countries.

There is an argument that carbon offsetting is just a licence to continue to pollute – while others suffer the consequences.

Of course, it’s great to donate to an environmental project, but it’s not going to negate damage from flying. Our best tip is to fly less.

Celebrity spot

Motivated to do the right thing by his seven-year-old son, Simon Cowell is the latest celebrity investing in electric vehicles.