YOUR HOLIDAY/BUSINESS TRIP AND THE PLANET
27/11/22
As travel log lewes writes this, world leaders are discussing climate change (some arriving by private jet,) the brochures for next year’s holidays are starting to drop through people’s letterboxes and the second edition of the book “How bad are bananas” is getting publicity.
Travel Log Lewes has just been sent the brochure for holidays from the “Explore” company. The company has carefully calculated the emissions generated by each person on its holidays, and many of them look quite low- until your realise that they have stopped offering flight inclusive holidays, so they can leave out the most polluting part of the holiday. Some of the holidays are in places like the USA.
“How bad are bananas” is written by Mike Berners Lee, one of the most respected of climate change commentators. In it he attempts to record the Co2 emissions of just about everything, taking into account not just the immediate emissions but also the embedded emissions (for example in the manufacturing of a car)
He calculates that the average person in Britain is responsible for 13 tonnes of carbon emissions, as opposed to a world average of 7 tonnes. He thinks we should all try to get down to 5 tonnes each.
The book estimates that this 13 tonnes is about 25% from food and drink, 25% housing and fuel, 25% from transport and 25% from other things.
So transport is important. Mike says that car manufacture and fuel contributes 15% of an individual’s total, flying 9% (based on one short haul return flight a year) ferries and cruises 2% and public transport 2%
We need to think carefully about our transport choices (assuming that we still have the money to go anywhere at all)
CARS
The book suggests that car manufacture contributes 3% of emissions, whilst vehicle fuel contributes 11%. It suggests that the manufacture of an electric car will contribute higher emissions than that of a petrol car but that the carbon footprint of the electricity used will be less.
He suggests that overall, electric cars are about half as bad for emissions as petrol ones, with electrics typically contributing about 1 tonne of emissions per year.(However I am not sure that the book has taken into account the cost of replacing batteries when they will no longer hold enough charge) .
With cars the number of people per journey is obviously significant, since there will be only a minor increase in emissions if there are 5 people in a car, when compared with one person. The miles per gallon achieved will be significant too so a more efficient car is better
FLYING
Perhaps the most horrible figures come from flying. Assuming that the flight is nearly full and you book the cheapest seats, a return flight from London to Nice will use about 1 tonne per passenger, a flight from London to the Canaries or South East Europe will consume about 2 tonnes per passenger, and a flight to the USA eastern seaboard around 4 tonnes per passenger. That is a huge chunk of the 5 tonnes we might be aiming for.
The clear message is: Don’t fly unless it is really really really necessary.
COACHES AND TRAINS
Of course, the coach or the train has emissions too, but they are likely to be less than that of other forms of transport.
The book quotes the following typical CO2 emissions per person for a journey from London to Glasgow and back
Coach 40kilogrammes
Train 64 Kilogrammes
Small electric car with one person 148 kg
Small efficient petrol car with one person, 237kg
Plane 368kg
Large SUV with one person 1.02 tonnes
Do think about the coach even though it is not a fashionable means of transport. There are no coaches from Lewes but the main London coach station is almost right next to Victoria where the Lewes trains terminate. For more information about coach travel see here
Of course these figures are only typical, and there are other ways of calculating emissions and there are lot of variables. But the figures are enough to give you the idea. There is no point in saving your plastic bags if you are making a load of carbon-expensive travel choices. The book points out that one business class return flight to Hong Kong generates as much CO2 at 340,000 plastic bags.
And of course we have to campaign too to get global policies changed, but it is not either/or. It has to be both.