Reduced-guilt flying now readily available for online purchase
First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a random post from the archives. Feel free to ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!
Both Expedia and Travelocity rolled out similar features yesterday, allowing travelers buying airline tickets to placate their guilt over the environmental effects of air travel by purchasing carbon offsets. The way it works: You pay money to pay for trees and carbon-dioxide reducing environmental projects. The price you pay depends on the distance flown.
The programs are fully voluntary, and link up with existing programs such as TerraPass, which has been pushing carbon offsets for some time.
Amusingly, both Expedia and Travelocity claimed to be the first online travel agency to offer such a service. (If it’s a battle between press releases, Travelocity’s hit the wire an hour earlier. First to the gate!)
My question: Should they charge premium cabin passengers more than they charge economy passengers? On the one hand, you take up more room on the plane, as measured by square footage. On the other hand, you’re not really adding any more weight to the equation, so your presence in the front vs. the back doesn’t change the fuel requirements. Any ethicists out there want to take this on?
–
Separately, the European Union is pushing for limits on the amount of greenhouse gases which airlines legally produce each year. Treating airlines like power plants, the system would allow for “carbon trading” — companies that go over their emissions quota are required to buy “credits” for their overage from cleaner competitors. Since companies thereby have incentives to reduce emissions, both by avoiding fees, and by potentially profiting off the sale of credits, emissions trading schemes are widely viewed as successful. We’ll see how it works in aviation.
Related:
- Are open skies dirty skies?
- Buy, not fly, green
tags: travel | environmentalism | Expedia | Travelocity
RSS Feed / Subscribe
Subscribe to Posts by Email
August 29th, 2006 at 2:25 pm |
Technically you are accurate, although the WRI protocols we use don’t differentiate between classes.
Three very simple things you can do to reduce your emissions impact
1) Fly coach
2) Fly direct (shorter flights pollute more on a per mile basis)
3) Pack lightly
Cheers,
Tom Arnold
CEO
TerraPass
August 29th, 2006 at 3:06 pm |
Tom, what are WRI protocols? Thanks.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:22 pm |
I, too, would be curious to know what WRI protocols are…
I assume you mean the method of calculating the environmental impact per traveler.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:20 am |
Hi folks. This is Adam from TerraPass, following up on this thread.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) publishes what is regarded as the standard for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions. As you’ve noted, this is tricky business, but their numbers are nevertheless regarded as the best thing going.
To see an example of the spreadsheets they use to calculate emissions from different sources, look here:
http://climate.wri.org/topic_data_trends.cfm
They’re also responsible http://www.ghgprotocol.org, an international standards initiative.
Hope this helps,
Adam
June 1st, 2007 at 8:11 am |
[…] and Travelocity recently partnered with third-party organizations like TerraPass to give customers the option of buying so-called […]
December 10th, 2007 at 10:56 am |
[…] harm you do by supporting environmental efforts. Expedia and Travelocity even offer the option to buy carbon offsets at the same time that you book your trip. These C02 offsets are used to fund green initiatives that reduce the amount of carbon in the […]