GREENWASH? The question may loom large as your hand hovers over the 鈥渙ffset emissions鈥� button on an airline website. Can you really negate the environmental damage of a flight or other polluting activity by paying to plant an extra tree here, or investing in a solar panel there? Or is carbon offsetting just a fig leaf to聽disguise our embarrassingly tiny efforts to combat climate change?
Yes and no. Carbon offsetting is no聽substitute for effective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but聽well-designed schemes can be a stopgap while we seek ways to avoid emitting in the first place (see鈥�Planning to carbon offset your flight? You should read this first鈥�).
Flying is particularly tricky because, as yet, there are few credible alternatives to fossil-fuelled flight. Let鈥檚 be clear. Jetting across the world is a privilege, not a right, and the best way to limit its impact is to do it less. There can be no excuse any more that the importance of what we聽do聽somehow trumps a shared duty to聽take action. Governments, companies, NGOs, scientists and everyone else must at all levels embrace technology and actively work to reduce globetrotting face-to-face meetings.
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No one wants to ban flying altogether, but there are measures we can all take. Choose airlines with newer, more efficient aircraft. Cut out short-haul flights: most aircraft emissions are associated with take-off and landing, and ground-based alternatives are more readily available for those distances. On long-haul ones, fly direct where possible. Shun business class, where emissions per passenger are substantially higher.
For what鈥檚 left, there is offsetting 鈥撀燼s a聽supplement to, not a substitute聽for, reducing emissions. However, the current plethora of often conflicting offsetting standards is doing the sector聽no favours. There needs to be more transparency and third-party monitoring of what counts as credible offsetting. Airlines, travel companies and others promoting offsetting schemes must also do due diligence on聽what they are offering. That way, we聽can all press the right buttons to聽help聽make a difference.
