Revealed: The real cost of air travel
It might be cheap, but it’s going to cost the earth. The cut-price air ticket is fuelling a boom that will make controlling global warming impossible. (Adapted from the Independent Newspaper (London) front page leader on Sunday 28 May 2005.
Here are some examples of flights giving the environmental cost per passenger of a return flight from London to:
| Dublin Miles: 288 Fuel: 48kg Greenhouse gases: 452 kgCO2 Travelling by car & ferry is 13 times more considerate to the ozone layer, than going by plane. | Amsterdam Miles: 217 Fuel: 36kg Greenhouse gases: 341 kgCO2 The greenhouse gas emitted paer passenger is equivalent to the weight of 179 Edam cheeses. | Oslo Miles: 714 Fuel: 120kg Greenhouse gases: 1,122 kgCO2 The amount of carbon emitted is equivalent to the weight of 4 reindeer, and would be cut by 85% through travelling by car. |
| Prague Miles: 636 Fuel: 107kg Greenhouse gases: 1,000kgCO2 A train would have to travel from London to Madras and back before polluting the air as much as a 747’s return flight to Prague. | Barcelona Miles: 705 Fuel: 119kg Greenhouse gases: 1,109kgCO2 A trip by rail would emit 95% less greenhouse gas. | Paris Miles: 212 Fuel: 35kg Greenhouse gases: 333 kgCO2Catching Eurostar would release 40 times less global-warming pollutants. |
| Rome Miles: 891 Fuel: 150kg Greenhouse gases: 1,410kgCO2 A tourist could drive around on a scooter non-stop for more than 6 months and still produce fewer emissions. | Athens Miles: 1,485 Fuel: 250kg Greenhouse gases: 2,336kgCO2 After 1 trip a passenger would have to go without heating, cooking, lighting and mechnised transport for 2 years & 9 months to make up for their impact on the environment. | New York Miles: 3,455 Fuel: 414kg Greenhouse gases: 3,,863kgCO2 A visitor would have to take 700 two-hour bus tours of the Big Apple to emit the same amount of CO2 as on their flight. |
| Sydney Miles: 10,557 Fuel: 1196kg Greenhouse gases: 11,149kgCO2 The carbon emitted per passenger is equivalent to a mini driving around the world 640 times or the weight of four Indian elephants. |  | Assumptions: Based upon 80% occupancy of a Jumbo Jet DC 747. All greenhouse gases expressed as warming equivalent of CO2. Source: Air Travel Calculator atwww.choose-climate.org and United Nations Environment Programme. |
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You can also calculate the CO2 emissions generated by your flight here.
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