Thanks for turning the spotlight on this important issue,Melanie. We haven't flown for three years and after a while you stop thinking about it as an option. I will share this with the Fly-less Kiwis Facebook group as they are always looking for new examples of people wrestling with changing their flying habits.
Good article Melanie. Work-related travel is one of the easiest areas to cut back on - many large employers now measure their carbon and have targets in place. Plus, flying is expensive, another reason to cut back. Online and hybrid meetings also make it much easier for people from all around the world to attend.
Two things about aviation need more publicity - the huge growth that the industry is planning, e.g. doubling or tripling air travel by 2050 (and then what?) and its inequality - most flying is done by a small number of rich people, even in rich countries. Commentators are quick to say that a petrol/carbon tax is unfair to poor people because "everyone needs to drive", and there is some merit to that because of the present transport system. But for flying it's the other way around. A frequent flyer tax would be highly progressive, reduce demand, and pay for expensive new technology (if it ever materialises).
Those are really good points. There's no doubt that the way flights are priced is just wrong, and that the aviation industry is one of those with its head well and truly in the sand. Frequent flyer taxes would definitely be a start, but flying really has to go back to being priced in proportion to its cost.
I've certainly seen real changes in workplace travel over my career. Even though it isn't quite the same, I've been amazed what is possible over Zoom/ video call. I'm routinely in contact around the world these days. Most of that hasn't been for climate reasons, but the climate is an incentive to change how we do things.
+1 to this! And there are groups like Guardians of the Bay in Wellington, and another one down south, opposing the expansion of existing airports/building of new ones. We need to wind down aviation and ramp up intercity passenger rail, pronto!
This is a great article, Melanie. I also am still flying, and I think most who have the means will continue to fly, so I love that you focused on how contrail reduction is feasible and could slash the worst part of emissions. And Robert's comment about a frequent flyer carbon tax is great, as long as those funds go toward developing hydrogen or high-efficiency fleets.
Here are some other travel tips I've researched lately, since I do want to try to reduce emissions:
- Flying nonstop is better if you can swing the cost and if the distance doesn't pose a danger of DVTs (blood clots), since the most fuel-intensive stages of flight are takeoff and landing.
- I'm going to start looking for opportunities to tack on personal vacation before or after conferences, since I'll have already gone 80% or more of the distance and might as well get the most I can from the trip, rather than making two separate ones.
Thanks Stephanie. There are definitely ways to tweak it, and improvements are coming. I'm also hoping for more hybrid or online events, and I think that these are happening, but it depends on the organisation.
I've cut as much flying out of my life as I can (my family and I live within the Boston-Chicago-DC triangle, and I only travel by train within it -- which means train rides as long as 22 hours, as opposed to short flights). Rail has been chronically and criminally under-invested for decades! However, I also have family in Europe and can't afford to spend 2 weeks on a ship...
Thanks Joel. We really need to see changes in investment such as rail, in New Zealand too. By the way, I checked out the John Oliver segment, it was excellent.
Dang, thank you so much for the great overview and excellent links. These are always such an interesting read. I didn’t even know about contrails previously!
I also love that you bring it back to reduction over relying on offsets or magical technology solutions that are not yet proven or scalable. It’s tough especially with friends and family scattered around the world. It does make me think more closely about where I settle long term - I would love to be able to visit my family once a year without it being a long haul flight.
Interesting point about flight efficiency and evolution. I see that the per capita emissions for NZ have dropped in the last decade, while Australia's is more than double that of NZ. I am sure this is because NZ is powered by majority hydro sources while Australia is coal.
But I would be curious to see trends for the per capita CO2 contribution from travel for NZ, considering it is far from the rest of the global population.
Thanks D'Nivra. Really interesting about per capita emissions, I didn't realise they had actually dropped per capita. I wonder what's driven that? Now I can see myself going down a research rabbit hole trying to understand how a country's emissions are actually counted. :-)
Haha. Strictly based on the data, my simple theory is lack of export-oriented heavy industries like mining and manufacturing, which often need raw combustible fuels (Oil,coal and gas) than just electricity. Considering NZ exports mostly animal products like meat which are more "exotic" and expensive in North America and EU, its a high value yet low volume commodity. These factors imply lower emissions. You're the Kiwi, you tell me if this makes sense? :)
I do think a lack of heavy industry is significant, but it hasn't been declining. And dairying has been increasing and that's a big emitter. I wonder if it is a decline in sheep numbers, which has been substantial. We've substantially dropped coal exports but have seen a corresponding increase in imports. I don't know, now I think I want to do a whole article on where our emissions are coming from and what the trends are.
That would be cool. I’m working on a related article with macroeconomic trends, but a NZ specific insight would be interesting, as most of its emissions are from animal husbandry (unlike many developed nations, where industry is the main contributor).
Wow! This was great information - I knew air travel had bad carbon consequences (Greta Thunberg has taught us a lot about that) but I didn't know about contrails. I thought they were simply condensation. Really informative - thanks for all your research!
Oof. I'm flying next week -first vacation since 2019 - and now I'm feeling guilty. Still going to go, but the tension is hard to balance.
I get it, I really do. It's hard.
A great article with some sobering facts very clearly laid out.
I have just flown to the UK to catch up with family and was worried about the carbon footprint, but now I am really worried.
Thanks Melanie for the clarion wake up call
Thanks Don. It is really hard, especially on families which are scattered around the world.
Thanks for turning the spotlight on this important issue,Melanie. We haven't flown for three years and after a while you stop thinking about it as an option. I will share this with the Fly-less Kiwis Facebook group as they are always looking for new examples of people wrestling with changing their flying habits.
Thanks Sonya. I'm definitely trying to get my thinking turned around about it.
Good article Melanie. Work-related travel is one of the easiest areas to cut back on - many large employers now measure their carbon and have targets in place. Plus, flying is expensive, another reason to cut back. Online and hybrid meetings also make it much easier for people from all around the world to attend.
Two things about aviation need more publicity - the huge growth that the industry is planning, e.g. doubling or tripling air travel by 2050 (and then what?) and its inequality - most flying is done by a small number of rich people, even in rich countries. Commentators are quick to say that a petrol/carbon tax is unfair to poor people because "everyone needs to drive", and there is some merit to that because of the present transport system. But for flying it's the other way around. A frequent flyer tax would be highly progressive, reduce demand, and pay for expensive new technology (if it ever materialises).
Those are really good points. There's no doubt that the way flights are priced is just wrong, and that the aviation industry is one of those with its head well and truly in the sand. Frequent flyer taxes would definitely be a start, but flying really has to go back to being priced in proportion to its cost.
I've certainly seen real changes in workplace travel over my career. Even though it isn't quite the same, I've been amazed what is possible over Zoom/ video call. I'm routinely in contact around the world these days. Most of that hasn't been for climate reasons, but the climate is an incentive to change how we do things.
+1 to this! And there are groups like Guardians of the Bay in Wellington, and another one down south, opposing the expansion of existing airports/building of new ones. We need to wind down aviation and ramp up intercity passenger rail, pronto!
This is a great article, Melanie. I also am still flying, and I think most who have the means will continue to fly, so I love that you focused on how contrail reduction is feasible and could slash the worst part of emissions. And Robert's comment about a frequent flyer carbon tax is great, as long as those funds go toward developing hydrogen or high-efficiency fleets.
Here are some other travel tips I've researched lately, since I do want to try to reduce emissions:
- Some planes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 are about 20% more efficient than average. There's a handy chart here comparing lots of today's popular planes on kg/hr fuel consumption: https://alliknowaviation.com/2019/12/14/fuel-consumption-aircraft/
- Flying nonstop is better if you can swing the cost and if the distance doesn't pose a danger of DVTs (blood clots), since the most fuel-intensive stages of flight are takeoff and landing.
- I'm going to start looking for opportunities to tack on personal vacation before or after conferences, since I'll have already gone 80% or more of the distance and might as well get the most I can from the trip, rather than making two separate ones.
Thanks Stephanie. There are definitely ways to tweak it, and improvements are coming. I'm also hoping for more hybrid or online events, and I think that these are happening, but it depends on the organisation.
John Oliver did a great deep dove into carbon offsets a few weeks ago: https://youtu.be/6p8zAbFKpW0
I've cut as much flying out of my life as I can (my family and I live within the Boston-Chicago-DC triangle, and I only travel by train within it -- which means train rides as long as 22 hours, as opposed to short flights). Rail has been chronically and criminally under-invested for decades! However, I also have family in Europe and can't afford to spend 2 weeks on a ship...
Thank you for this article!
Thanks Joel. We really need to see changes in investment such as rail, in New Zealand too. By the way, I checked out the John Oliver segment, it was excellent.
Dang, thank you so much for the great overview and excellent links. These are always such an interesting read. I didn’t even know about contrails previously!
I also love that you bring it back to reduction over relying on offsets or magical technology solutions that are not yet proven or scalable. It’s tough especially with friends and family scattered around the world. It does make me think more closely about where I settle long term - I would love to be able to visit my family once a year without it being a long haul flight.
Interesting point about flight efficiency and evolution. I see that the per capita emissions for NZ have dropped in the last decade, while Australia's is more than double that of NZ. I am sure this is because NZ is powered by majority hydro sources while Australia is coal.
But I would be curious to see trends for the per capita CO2 contribution from travel for NZ, considering it is far from the rest of the global population.
Thanks D'Nivra. Really interesting about per capita emissions, I didn't realise they had actually dropped per capita. I wonder what's driven that? Now I can see myself going down a research rabbit hole trying to understand how a country's emissions are actually counted. :-)
Haha. Strictly based on the data, my simple theory is lack of export-oriented heavy industries like mining and manufacturing, which often need raw combustible fuels (Oil,coal and gas) than just electricity. Considering NZ exports mostly animal products like meat which are more "exotic" and expensive in North America and EU, its a high value yet low volume commodity. These factors imply lower emissions. You're the Kiwi, you tell me if this makes sense? :)
I do think a lack of heavy industry is significant, but it hasn't been declining. And dairying has been increasing and that's a big emitter. I wonder if it is a decline in sheep numbers, which has been substantial. We've substantially dropped coal exports but have seen a corresponding increase in imports. I don't know, now I think I want to do a whole article on where our emissions are coming from and what the trends are.
That would be cool. I’m working on a related article with macroeconomic trends, but a NZ specific insight would be interesting, as most of its emissions are from animal husbandry (unlike many developed nations, where industry is the main contributor).
Wow! This was great information - I knew air travel had bad carbon consequences (Greta Thunberg has taught us a lot about that) but I didn't know about contrails. I thought they were simply condensation. Really informative - thanks for all your research!
Thank you. I had no idea either, it was shocking, but also hopeful as it seems like it might be a reasonably easy fix.
I had no idea contrails were so bad! Maybe the conspiracy theorists were on to something (kidding)
I agree. The conspiracy theorists are right in the same way that a stopped clock is right twice a day.