How To Carbon Offset Your Travels: The Pros And Cons Of Carbon Offsetting

This beginner’s guide to carbon offsetting explains how to offset your emissions for air travel, the pros and cons of carbon offsetting and how to find the best offsetting scheme that’s really making a difference.

Studies show that tourism and travel are responsible for more than 5% of the world’s total carbon emissions.

It’s a significant contributor to global warming and climate change.

Every time you get on a plane, take a taxi, eat at a fancy restaurant, or even stay in a hotel, you’re generating carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of the consequences of excessive traveling. 

While many are now starting to alter their traveling habits and follow more sustainable practices, their efforts can only do so much and there are still carbon unavoidable emissions. For better results, carbon offsetting is utilized. 

Offsetting your travels is often seen as an imperfect solution, but what even is it and how does it work?

Can carbon offsetting really help your travel footprint? Photo credit: canva.com

What Is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon offsetting is essentially a way for people to compensate for the carbon emissions (CO2) they produce during certain activities such as flying by plane.

These are voluntary schemes where people pay to offset their emissions. It works by calculating the carbon footprint of your travels and then buying carbon offset credits equivalent to the amount you are responsible for.

You then use the carbon offset credits to donate to projects that are working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the effects of global warming.

For example, these projects could be investing in green energy solutions or planting trees to help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

Read More: Does Carbon Offsetting Really Work?

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How Can Carbon Offsetting Help The Environment?

Carbon offsetting allows people to leave a positive impact on the environment. There are two main types of offset projects. The first one is forestry which relates to planting trees or preventing them from being cut down.

Trees are natural carbon stores. A typical full-grown tree can absorb up to 21kg of carbon a year.

Plus, restoring forests has additional benefits such as protecting fragile ecosystems, improving biodiversity and aiding conservation.

The second type is energy projects. These work to reduce the number of fossil fuels by investing in energy efficiency and renewable technology.

Besides generating money for more sustainable projects, these projects can also help improve the quality of life of many people in lower economic living conditions.

They can also provide more eco-friendly job opportunities.

Communities can raise healthier and stronger individuals as a result. 

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How Are Carbon Offsets Calculated?

The easiest way to work out the carbon footprint of your travels is to use a carbon calculator. If you want to offset your flights, the most basic calculators will work out your air miles.

Other more in-depth ones will look at the class you traveled in, the type of aircraft and the weight of your luggage.

Carbon offset calculators differ in what they choose to look at. As a rule of thumb, the better ones are usually more comprehensive. Use this tool to find a calculator you like.

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How Much Does Carbon Offsetting Cost?

Since every carbon offset calculator is different, the price of offsetting your emissions differs too. I tested out the cost of my flight emissions on a round trip from London to Budapest on Terrapass.

This short haul flight came to 543kg (1197lbs) of CO2 which was $9.56. A round trip from London to Mexico was 3244kg (7153lbs) which cost $57.16.

For another comparison, a flight from New York to Dubai came to 4009kg (8839lbs) which was $70.

However, Terrapass doesn’t take into account the class you travel in.

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How Can You Apply Carbon Offsetting to Your Travels?

Learning how to use ESG in travel and tourism is the first step to applying carbon offsetting to your travels.

This reporting framework makes it easier for companies to track their consumption and emissions.

The data gathered can then be used to create internal systems and practices that leave a healthier impact on the environment. 

One of the best ways you can offset your travel emissions is to choose transportation methods that support sustainable movements, e.g. airlines that allow you to donate to green initiatives.

Although this option can be found in many airlines, they’re often avoided for fear of being “dubious” or “shady.”

Nevertheless, it’s something that you should consider when you’re trying to offset your emissions. Usually, an option to offset your flights appears at the time of booking which takes the hassle out of using a calculator.

If the airline you use doesn’t have a carbon offsetting program, another way you can proactively offset your travel emissions is to search for the programs yourself.

A quick online search is all you need to get started. Find a group whose values and beliefs in sustainability match your own.

Get in touch with an agent or member and gather more information on how they conduct their operations before committing to the project completely.

Always choose certified offsetting schemes. This is because there are a lot of greenwashing organizations that are morally corrupt and don’t actually do anything to mitigate your carbon footprint.

The most widely recognised and respected certification is Gold Standard.

Read More: 13 Best Eco-Friendly Ways to Travel

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Is Carbon Offsetting Effective?

For offsetting to be effective, the project must meet three criteria: 

Additionality – meaning the project has to be funded by money that’s directly generated from its offsetting efforts. 

No Leakage – meaning it consistently minimizes carbon emissions without increasing it someplace else. 

Permanence – meaning its effects can’t be reversed down the road. So in relation to forestry, this means trees can’t be cut down at a later date as this releases carbon back into the atmosphere.

If you meet these three criteria, then yes, carbon offsetting can be an effective way for you to reduce your carbon footprint. 

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Pros and Cons of Carbon of Offsetting

While carbon offsetting does sound like a great plan for reducing the tourism industry’s emissions, the method isn’t as solid as most people make it out to be.

Here’s a list of the different pros and cons of carbon offsetting that you might not already know:

Pro: Promote Afforestation

A well-known benefit of carbon offsetting is afforestation. In this process, new trees are planted in areas where there aren’t as many greeneries.

Carbon dioxide is then removed from that specific area and stored inside the trees. 

Con: Band-aid Solution

Although carbon offsetting does offer reforestation opportunities, it’s simply a band-aid solution to a much larger issue at hand.

Many travelers use offsetting as a way to appear environmentally friendly to their peers. And still, their entire journey is spent burning fossil fuels. It doesn’t encourage people to reduce their impact but rather acts like a get-out-of-jail-free card.

On top of that, it takes 20 years for a single tree to reach maturity. Planting a single seedling for every 20,000 miles you travel just isn’t enough to offset your emission. 

Trees shouldn’t be considered a guarantee for storing your carbon because they’re not going to be around forever.

Once a tree dies, gets destroyed in a fire or is cut down, the carbon is then released back into the atmosphere.

Pro: Encourage Biodiversity

By planting more forests, organizations can also create environments where animals and other plant life can thrive.

It also creates opportunities for communities to improve their health and livelihoods. 

Con: Results Can’t Be Measured

There’s no accurate way to measure the effects of carbon offsetting on the environment.

This makes it impossible to know whether the projects that are being conducted are worth it. 

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Bottom Line: Is Carbon Offsetting Worth It?

You could follow an environmentalist’s to-do list method on how to properly use carbon offsetting in your travels and still have a hard time identifying whether your efforts are bearing fruit. 

Carbon offsets are a popular decarbonization technique due to their simplicity, co-benefits, narrative construction, and unique utilization, but they have significant drawbacks.

Offsets provide direct funding to various projects, and you must select projects that are registered with the most trustworthy registries.

Carbon offsets should be viewed as simply an instrument in the broader decarbonization approach. Really, the focus should be on reducing your impact where possible and using carbon offsetting as a way to mitigate unavoidable emissions.

Carbon offsets coupled with renewable power, power purchase agreements, and operational adjustments like energy efficiency, on-site renewables, downsizing, and green product acquisition can be an efficient method of attaining carbon neutrality.

If you want to offset the emissions of your flight, my advice is to donate your carbon credits to a Gold Standard certified scheme rather than allowing an airline to choose for you.

This way you have more control over where your money is going and you’ll feel more confident that your money is doing some good.

When leaving it up to the company to decide, you can’t guarantee it’s going where you would hope.

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What else can you do to reduce your impact?

• Be a sustainable traveler. This guide can show you how
• Support ecotourism when you travel and do ecotourism activities
• Think about what you take. Have an eco-friendly packing list
• Take plastic out of your toiletries
• Make sure every activity you do is ethical
• Learn how to take mindful travel photos
• Avoid voluntourism
• Book ethical travel companies
• Wear only reef-safe sunscreen
• Tread lightly wherever you go by being an ethical traveler
• Stay in eco-friendly accommodation
• And learn how to cope with eco guilt