Traveling by air produces 223 grams of CO2e per passenger mile - and can quickly become a substantial portion of an individual or household's carbon footprint.
Air Travel
- Reduce air travel.
- Offset remaining air travel.
1. Reduce
Flying can be a major source of GHG emissions - the most effective way to mitigate the impact of air travel is not to fly when traveling! How's that? Well...
- Flying 1,000 miles less a year saves about 1,000 lbs off your carbon footprint.
- Vacation close to home and when you do, consider taking a train ride. You can travel twice as far on the train than by car and emit the same amount of greenhouse gases.
- Move information instead of people! Discover virtual conferencing technologies available like Skype and Google Docs for virtual document sharing
Reducing the number of miles flown by half (1,950 miles) can reduce the carbon footprint of an average household by up to 1,800 pounds (.9 tons) of CO2e annually. Use the Household Carbon Footprint Calculator to find out what other actions can save money and lower your carbon footprint.
2. Offset
Still flying? That's ok - the best options are to fly direct (it reduces the energy needed for multiple takeoffs and landings) and to buy offsets.
GHG mitigation can be achieved by purchasing voluntary credits that meet the following criteria:
- Real
- Additional
- Quantifiable
- Permanent
- Verifiable
- Enforceable