Round The World Experts Climate Care

Whether you wholeheartedly believe in, partly agree with or totally oppose the current thinking on climate change or global warming, it’s an undeniable fact that flying around the world is going to leave a trail and add pollutants into the atmosphere.

The impact of global travel (done well) can be a hugely positive one, but each and every traveller should at least consider the footprint their adventures will leave and where they can, do something to redress the balance.

As a starting point for you, we have teamed up with ClimateCare to encourage travellers to offset the CO2 emissions from their flights, which will almost certainly be the largest environmental impact of their trip.

Offset your carbon emissions

Environmental organisation, ClimateCare, is a service that helps you repair the damage that flying does to the environment. It does this by ‘offsetting' gas emissions, such as CO2 produced from your activities by reducing an equivalent amount of CO2 on your behalf elsewhere.

These reductions are made through a range of projects in

• Energy efficiency – these reduce the amount of fuel needed
• Renewable energy – these replace non-renewable fuel such as coal

Calculate and offset your carbon emissions

CLICK HERE to calculate and offset your CO2 emissions. You will need to calculate each individual flight one at a time and add them to your basket to offset your entire round the world trip. Simply enter the start and end points, click the blue Calculate button and then click Add To Basket (the same blue button which will have changed).

There is an option to offset car trips too. Travel by train or bus isn’t included as emissions tend to be far less. As a guide though allow 1 tonne of emissions for each 10,000 miles of travel by rail or bus.

Examples of Climate Care projects

Climate Care funds a variety of projects including:

Efficient Stoves in Uganda, Ghana and Cambodia

Perhaps this sounds like a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but in countries where millions of people cook on inefficient charcoal stoves, even small savings can reap big rewards.

In these three countries, the project will offset around 443,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

From an environmental viewpoint some estimated 369,000 tonnes of wood fuel are consumed for charcoal production annually, destroying 45km2 of deciduous forests each year. Only 3% of this re-grows, which translates to an average loss of 197,000 ha annually. The stoves project helps to reduce this loss by reducing the demand for wood fuel. But there is a social benefit too as efficient stoves using less fuel saves money for users too.

Nahar Biomass – India

ClimateCare works in partnership with the Nahar Spinning Mill deep in India’s Punjab region which is now using a renewable generation method. Using locally sourced rice husk, which would otherwise be left as waste, the Nahar Spinning Mill can now convert this waste biomass to meet all its energy requirements. Prior to this, Nahar’s operations were very carbon intensive with its electricity requirements being met via fossil-fuelled grid energy and steam generated from fuel oil.

Higher value jobs have been created within the new power plant, whilst income generation has increased amongst local farmers who can now sell their seasonal waste products to the plant.

The project leads to a reduction in the demand for carbon intensive energy resources resulting in greenhouse gas emission reductions and a reduction in other pollutants such as SO2 and soot.

The total emission reduction is 44,800 tonnes.

FAQs: Air travel and environmental pollution

When I fly, am I contributing to environmental pollution?

Yes. Aircraft operations generate greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), and other effects in the atmosphere linked to water vapour, ozone generation, methane reduction and cirrus cloud formation.

What's the overall effect of air travel on the climate?

The overall effect of air travel on the climate is greater than the CO2 that comes from burning aviation fuel alone, because the emissions are released high in the atmosphere. The calculations used by ClimateCare take account of this – for more information see the report on calculating emissions from air travel on ClimateCare's website.

Am I offsetting emissions from the whole plane?

No. You are paying for your seat. Emissions per person are estimated by dividing the total fuel used on a journey by the number of seats on a plane.

I pay departure tax, so why should I pay ClimateCare?

Air Passenger Duty is a passenger tax levied by the Government on all departures from the UK and generates almost £1 billion annually. However, the money isn't spent directly on mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions from your flight, whereas your payment to ClimateCare is.

Offsetting

What is offsetting?

When you buy a carbon offset, your money is used by ClimateCare to reduce carbon dioxide emissions on your behalf. The emissions are reduced through projects that prevent or reduce the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The reduction made is equivalent to the amount your share of the flight releases.

How do Climate Care's projects ‘offset' the CO2 emitted?

Climate Care's projects avoid, reduce or absorb greenhouse gases through:

• Renewable energy – energy creating no extra CO2 emissions
• Energy efficiency – using less energy to reduce CO2 emissions