Better Carbon Travel: in Honor of #climatestrike

by Lauren Klingman

In honor of national #climatestrike day and because we are huge proponents of the environment, sustainable living, and sustainable travel we thought we should talk about your options. Here’s the deal: we love travel, as do you if you’re looking at our site. That being said, travel can be bad for the environment and we should all acknowledge that. So if you love traveling and you believe in the importance of experiencing new cultures, expanding your world view, and love seeing places different from your own, what can you do? Of course, one option is to eschew traveling and refuse to fly; however, that’s easier if you live in a place like Europe where trains are abundant and territory is smaller. Many of us do not live in Europe and are limited in our vacation time. Can we still care about the environment and fly? We would argue yes. You do have options in travel and you can choose to minimize your CO2 emissions as well as you can. 

Don’t Fly 

We hate to state the obvious but flying is not good for the environment. Air travel counts for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and it’s actually getting worse with a growing middle class global economy and easier access to low cost short duration flights. So If you have an option not to fly, you should take it. What does this mean?

Choose trains if available. We love train travel. It’s a fantastic way to see the countryside, far more enjoyable than a car ride, and often around the same length of trip as a puddle-jumper plane (if you take into account getting to the airport, pre-check, boarding time, etc). Sometimes it even saves you hotel fare if you can get a sleeper car.  It’s significantly better for the environment and generally more pleasant.

Opt for a car, especially with a large group. Rather than fly from Paris to Lyon, wouldn’t it be nice to make some stops along the way? Did you ever consider Beaune or other small attractions? Sometimes a car lets you appreciate more off-the-beaten path spots than flying city. It’s more of an adventure and for short trips especially with a full car can be better for the environment than a flight.

Embrace Local Public Transit

Yes, ordering an Uber or Lyft or taxi is easy, and sometimes you don’t have a choice (public transit is done for the night, you literally can’t get to your destination any other way), but you’ll feel more like a local using public transit. For instance, Bangkok has an incredibly nice, user friendly city subway system and is frankly less stressful than bartering a cab fare. Most big European (and some American) cities offer subway train passes. Using local public transit can save you a lot of money in your travels, get you from point A to point B faster, and has the added benefit of being environmentally friendly.

Fly Nonstop 

The more times you take off, the more fuel you use. One quarter of airline emissions come from landing and taking off (including taxiing). Flying nonstop tends to be more pleasant and less risky (you don’t have to worry about connections). The additional cost may be worth it for an easier trip and environmentally conscious option.

The Type of Plane Matters

Some planes are more fuel efficient than others. For example, the Airbus A320neo is 15% more fuel efficient than a standard A320. You can learn what type of plane you’ll be flying when you book. Kayak, for example, will show you the plane for each route, and that’s also how you can choose the best seats – i.e. look up your type of plane on Seat Guru. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is 20% more fuel efficient than a 767 with better comfort. The most fuel efficient trans-Atlantic airline is Norwegian because they fly 787’s, have a high passenger load factor, and have a seat density due to a low number of premium seats. British Airways, by contrast is about half as efficient as Norwegian because BA flies older 747’s with a lower seat density. United Airlines is using biofuel on some flights, leading to a 60% decrease in CO2 emissions compared to traditional jet fuel. In terms of American airlines, Frontier, Spirit, and Southwest do the best, while American, Hawaiian and Jet Blue do the worst. The most efficient types of passenger aircraft are: 787, 777, 737max (other problems here), and Airbus A350.

In summary, fuel efficiency when you fly comes down to four things: 1) type of jet, 787 is better than 747 or 767, and A320neo is better than older planes; 2) load factor: fuller airplanes are better than emptier airplanes; 3) seat density: the more seats on the plane (less first and business class), the more efficient the flight; and 4) nonstop is always the most fuel efficient. 

Read more about the fuel efficiency of airlines you fly at https://theicct.org/blog/staff/size-matters-for-aircraft-fuel-efficiency

Empty Planes Matter

The fuller the airplane, the more fuel efficient your flight. This means, when you have empty seats, it’s less fuel efficient. Beyond that, flying coach is actually more fuel efficient. This should make sense as the more packed in passengers are, the more people they’re flying the more efficient each person’s flight is. Fun fact: flying coach in a crowded airplane is actually the most fuel efficient you can be, so think about that the next time you’re in the middle seat and someone is fighting you for elbow space on the armrest. Comforting, I know. 

Don’t Sight-See Via Plane 

This is a pet peeve, but we generally hate sightseeing via helicopter or plane (though planes are more efficient). First, it’s rarely necessary. Yes, the scenery can be beautiful, however it can also be beautiful by car, by mountain funicular, by boat, by train, by hot air balloon, by your own two feet and just generally up-close-and-personal. It might be tempting to take that fly over of Hawaii or the Grand Canyon, but let it give you pause. First, the noise and sheer number of aircrafts can disrupt the setting for yourself, other tourists, local wildlife. Small planes are incredibly loud and can ruin the ambience of a beautiful scene. Second, is a view over NYC really worth the damage to the environment? Wouldn’t it be better to wander Central Park and gaze up at the buildings rather than down on them? To be an active participant in a city and culture is part of the reason to travel. Third, these are often pricey exhibitions and it might be more productive and fun to fuel that money into the local economy or eat a really nice meal or bungee jump off a bridge. Sometimes it’s easy to ignore the impact of a single outing on a single day, but think to yourself: how many people like me are choosing this and the numbers get a lot higher. 

Cruise Ships are Terrible 

We’re all about immersion in local economies and supporting local economies with travel, so we don’t love cruise ships. Cruises also tend to be really bad for the environment. Someone on a 7 day cruise produces the same amount of emissions as they do in 18 days on land. A passenger’s carbon footprint triples in size when taking a cruise because cruise ships pollute the air with dirty diesel emissions. Most of them dump toxic heavy fuel oil into the ocean (seriously). A single cruise ship can emit as much pollution as 700 trucks and as much particulate matter as one million cars. They also often dump sewage and garbage into the ocean, which is just gross. The EPA estimates a 3,000-person cruise ship generates 210,000 gallons of sewage per week. In 2014, cruise ships dumped more than 1 billion gallons of untreated sewage into the ocean. CO2 emissions of a cruise ship are more than 1,000 times greater than a train journey. 

Beyond the environmental impact, cruise ships cause cultural pollution. You dump thousands of people into a small location overwhelming the local town and completely ruining the ambiance, and distorting the local economy. They lead to junk stores, tacky souvenir stands, but since passengers don’t spend the night, they do virtually nothing for lodging, restaurants, or local businesses. 

In Bermuda, we were sitting at the end of the island where the cruise ships docked and we sat there and watched thousands upon thousands of people disgorged from giant cruise ships. Suddenly the entire island was overwhelmed with people. The same thing occurred in Dubrovnik where thousands of people streamed off of cruise ships through the main gate and are literally destroying the city to the degree that we fled to a nearby island and much more importantly make locals despise tourists. 

Take a cruise ship if you must, but be cognizant. 

Buy Offsets

You can calculate how much CO2 your trip emits and buy carbon offsets, which offer a way to balance the trip pollution by investing in projects that reduce CO2 emissions. 

Read more here. 

Vote and Lobby for Emission Changes and Control 

Vote for environmentally conscious people who support emission controls, public transit and rail projects, and supporting science and technology research into climate change (the more you know, the better you can do).

Climate change is a global problem, even for people who love travel. Let’s band together to help solve it so we can all continue to explore this glorious world. 

Calculate your own carbon emission from a flight here

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