Living on a plane. “Ana-Maria P. is the president of Powerstorm, a US company working on sustainable telecom solutions focused on reducing CO2 emissions in emerging markets. How often do you travel? I basically live on a plane. I recently calculated this and in the last four years, I spent only three months at home…The upside of all this travel is that I’ve made friends from cities all over the world! Why do you enjoy flying KLM? …I’ve never been disappointed when flying KLM. I also appreciate the CO2 reduction initiatives of KLM through impact investing in green innovation – which runs in parallel with Powerstorm’s sustainable focus. You recently attended the Platinum for Life event. What was that like? …I felt overwhelmed and touched by the entire event. It was so well organized, I really felt like a princess. Also, because I was one of the few women there.”

[Holland Herald September 2016]

I read this text when I was travelling myself in an airplane, on my way to Hungary. Two months later I travelled from Amsterdam to Osaka; two months earlier I had made a trip from Amsterdam to Moscow and back. I enjoy these trips every time – the sky can be so beautiful, the wings are pieces of art, the promise of adventure… But with these three trips in 2016, I am responsible for an emission in the order of 1292 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) according to the site of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO – www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset). The carbon calculator with the claim to be the web’s leading carbon footprint calculator (calculator.carbonfootprint.com) gives an outcome of 1810 kg CO2 or, when I include radiative forcing, 3450 kg CO2.  The calculator of US-based Carbonzero (www.carbonzero.ca/calculate) gives a much a higher value: 4290 kg CO2. They offer offsets on the site. The business-oriented site www.climatecare.org  yields a value of 3420 kg CO2, it tells you on the spot how many UK pounds you can transfer via the paypalbutton. It is unclear to whom this money is sent – presumably to the climatecare organization. The detailed site of Resurgence & Ecologist (www.resurgence.org/resources/carbon-calculator.html ) asks for the number of short, medium and long distance trips and gives 4224 kg CO2. An Australian site with short, medium and long range trip assessments indicates 6820 kg CO2 (carbonneutral.com.au ). For a brief overview, see The Guardian article www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/19/carbon.web.

Three conclusions, at least, can be drawn from this quick and incomplete survey. First: there is a wide variation in the estimated carbon dioxide emissions for my three trips. Indeed, a factor of two difference seems common. Secondly, one may assume that different assumptions on how to allocate the emission of a travelling individual, how to draw the system boundary (are oil refinery emissions included?) and how to evaluate other environmental effects (notably, the emission of other greenhouse gases). Thirdly, there are various motives behind the calculators which may also to some extent the different outcomes. I distinguish three motivations:

  • A genuine concern about climate change and, thus, an effort to convince travelers that they should become aware of the flight-related emissions and act upon it in the form of less travel by airplane and compensation in some form or another. This is what motivated the early NGO calculator start-ups.
  • Companies and organizations that have a direct interest in air travel, such as air companies and organization such as ICOA. High carbon footprints are considered harmful for their business. They will favour low values in view of air travel reputation as clean and emphasize the advantages as compared to other modes of transport.
  • A third group has entered the area: businesspeople who use the opportunity to earn money for their website, for an environmental goal – or simply for themselves. Compensation and offsetting are the buzzwords, as they offer an easy way out of any sense of guilt or powerlessness the traveler might have.

Evidently, the carbon calculators are not going to solve the problem if I am again invited for an interesting conference or long for a holiday trip. Practically speaking, I follow three steps. First, what will roughly be the emissions of my trip? Secondly, how does this add up to my personal carbon footprint from air travel? Thirdly, what fraction is this of my estimated total personal carbon footprint? And finally, how do I compare to the European average? The outcome convinced me that my budget for 2016 was exceeded – and I cancelled a planned trip in 2017. But don’t ask me any further about such rationalizations – because each expenditure and any use of money on a savings account adds to the footprint… I have not yet begun to compensate or offset, wait for a next blog item.