People who want to lower their carbon footprint are looking to calculate how much emissions their travel plans create via a new website developed by the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The new website, travelandclimate.org, gives a simple calculation of the emissions from different modes of travel for any journey.
For two people traveling from London to France and back via a petrol car, 207 kilograms (kg) of carbon equivalent is released into the atmosphere per person, including 19 kg of emissions caused by the ferry ride. As the number of passengers in a car increases, the emissions per person drop.
By plane, one person is responsible for 199 kg of emissions for the same trip. The cleanest option is to travel with an electric vehicle, which only emits 66 kg of carbon for a return trip from London to France.
A return trip from Finland to Italy by car with petrol fuel would result in total emissions of 752 kg, including 29 kg of ferry travel. The site calculates 211 kg of emissions for an electric car traveling the same distance. However, opting for a plane ride for the same journey increases the emission levels for each person to 781 kg. As the distance increases, so does the resulting emissions.
A round trip from Russia to the U.S. by plane accumulates 2,897 kg of emissions for one person, while flying from Germany to Japan and back releases 2,950 kg of emissions into the atmosphere. Aviation, domestic and international travel accounts for approximately 2% of global carbon emissions produced by human activity, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Accordingly, the International Civil Aviation Organization developed the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation. Under the scheme, the goal is for the international aviation sector to improve average annual fuel efficiency by 2% and keep the global net carbon emissions from 2020 at the same level.
(Anadolu Agency)
