You’re already trying to do your bit for the planet when you hear the carbon footprint of flying—your next holiday, which you’re looking forward to—pretty much cancels out all the good you’ve done. It’s… deflating, right?
At Pawprint, we take a different perspective. One that focuses on what you can do, rather than what you can’t. So here are a few ways to make your flight as eco-friendly as possible.
Tips to reduce the carbon footprint of your flight
Fly direct
One flight emits less carbon than two. Where possible, choose direct flights.
Fly economy
Why is flying in economy better for the environment—isn’t the plane flying anyway? Well, there are three parts to this logic:
- Higher-class seats take up more space, allowing fewer people to travel on the plane (meaning there’ll be demand for an extra carbon-expensive flight)
- Higher-class seats are bigger and heavier, making them more energy-intensive to transport
- There are more carbon-expensive perks involved in first-class air travel
So if you can, opt for a lower-class when flying. Sacrificing the extra leg room will be tough, to be sure—but just pull the sleep mask over your eyes, and rest assured that you're doing your bit for the planet.
Pack light
The lighter the plane, the less energy it will consume getting you from A to B. So when trying to decide whether you need that second (or third… or fourth) pair of shoes, think about your other footprint—the carbon kind. According to Lonely Planet, reducing the weight of your luggage by 15kg can lower your emissions by around 50–100kg on a four-and-a-half hour flight!
Research travel alternatives
Now we know we said we wouldn’t tell you not to fly, but... is getting a bus or a train a possible alternative? Even if it turns out to be impossible, too expensive or honestly just too much of a hassle, at least you’ve done the research.
And who knows, it might just spark an idea for a low-carbon trip in the future! Slow travel can enable more meaningful connections to a region's people, culture and history—why not give it a go one day? Sites like Rome2Rio and Omio help you easily compare a flight with other options such as taking the train or the bus in a single search.
A great resource to learn more about the "no fly life" is the organisation No Fly Climate Sci. They consist of academics, scientists, and members of the public who have committed to not flying, or flying a lot less.
Take your (empty) water bottle
According to Mike Berners-Lee in How Bad Are Bananas, a litre of bottled water is 1000x more carbon-intense than water from the tap—not to mention another bit of single-use plastic we're putting out into the world!
So, though packing your own bottle will take up a bit of extra room in your suitcase, you'll be shaving off a bit of the carbon price tag of your trip. You'll also be saving a few pennies from not having to buy water, so why not put that towards a nice meal, or a fun experience to make your holiday extra memorable?
Pick planes, routes or airlines that are lower impact than others
There’s lots of factors involved in the impact of different flights, including the aircraft type, how full it is, which airport you're departing from and what route it takes.
Don't worry, you don't have to crunch those numbers yourself—some travel sites like Skyscanner highlight greener options for you to book. Atmosfair, a German non-profit, also has a helpful emissions calculator which you can use to measure the environmental impact of your flight.
Have a vegetarian or chicken meal
If you’re flying long distance, opt for a low-carbon meal to offset some of the carbon of the flight. Your best options will be either a vegetarian/vegan meal, fish, or chicken. Eating a carbon-expensive beef or lamb meal at 31,000ft in the air is pretty much the highest-carbon activity you can do—opt out if you can!
