10 tips on how to reduce your holiday carbon emissions

It’s a big dilemma of our time: you want to live sustainably and you want to go on a holiday, by plane. Flying is extremely bad for the environment. If you are going to make that long journey, there are a few things you can do to reduce the CO2 emissions of your holiday as much as possible. I’ve listed the 10 best tips for you on how to reduce your holiday carbon emissions.

1. Travel less often and longer

We fly as little as possible during our world trip. This is only possible because we travel slowly. We understand that most people have a limited number of holidays and they have no time to take the train to Thailand. Getting on a plane for a long journey is inevitable. It’s wise to travel less often and longer if you choose a distant destination. That will reduce your holiday carbon emissions a lot over the years.

Here you can read why we prefer not to fly during our world trip.

2. Direct flights

Flights with transfers are often much cheaper. But did you know that sometimes half the carbon emissions are saved if you opt for a direct flight? A direct flight is better for the environment and it’s much more comfortable. You don’t have to change flights, you get to your destination faster, you never have to worry about arranging an extra visa and the chance that your luggage arrives without problems is much greater. You will reduce your holiday carbon emissions and let’s face it: the money you save on your plane tickets is usually spent on food and trinkets while you wait for your next flight.

3. Modern and more sustainable aircraft

It would be great if we could go on holiday with electric planes, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, the developments in aviation are going at a snail’s pace and we don’t have to hope for big innovations for the time being. Until then you can choose to fly as sustainable as possible. Choose modern planes. Newer aircraft have more efficient fuel consumption. That sometimes saves up to 20% compared to old models.

The Atmosfair Airline Index compares the 200 largest airlines each year and makes a ranking based on environment and carbon efficiency. TUI, Alaska Airlines and KLM score the highest on long-haul flights.

4. Public transport at destination

Try to travel by public transport at your destination as much as possible. That’s also much more fun. The planes are full of other tourists, while the locals prefer to travel long distances by train or bus. By travelling by public transport you experience the life of the locals, you make new friends and you really travel off the beaten track. Okay, it’s usually a lot slower, but if you travel less often and longer (see tip 1), then that is not a problem. It will be a lot of fun and it will help you reduce your holiday carbon emissions!

5. Take the train and reduce your holiday carbon emissions

Now that you are less likely to travel to a faraway destination, you want to interrupt all that hard work more often with a nice city trip. Fortunately, many great destinations in Europe can be reached by train very easily. Copenhagen, Prague, Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and Milan are all cities you don’t have to fly to.

Now you might think; that is way more expensive and takes a lot more time. That’s not always true either. My experience is that the journey from Utrecht to the centre of London by train is just as fast as a cheap flight from Eindhoven. You have to be at the airport a few hours in advance and land in Stansted an hour later. Then you’ll be on the train for another hour. Or 3 hours on the bus to get to the city centre. Add the price of those extra tickets to your cheap flight and you’ll spend as much on your flight as on the international train. And you will be dropped off in the city centre. Perfect!

6. Compensate your flight

If you compensate for the carbon emissions of your flight, you invest in projects that for example plant trees, protect forests or supply sustainable cooking appliances in developing countries. In this way, the carbon emissions you emit with your flight is saved somewhere else or taken out of the air. It depends on your flight how much that costs. It’s usually not a lot of money.

There is quite a lot of discussion about the question whether compensating a flight makes it easier for people to board the plane. Because hey, you can suddenly buy off your guilt now. The best is of course not to fly at all. But if you do fly, it’s better to do something to make the world a bit more beautiful, rather than sit back and do nothing at all. Want to know more? A Dutch journalist writes in this article how trees can compensate for your flight.

7. Sleep in small-scale hotels

All-inclusive resorts with Italian marble in the lobby, all-you-can-eat buffets and daily clean towels don’t fit into your carbon-efficient vacation. Small scale hotels and eco-lodges are a greener alternative. The hotels are often built with respect for nature and they are using sustainable or recycled materials. The owners reduce their impact by, for example, taking fruit and vegetables from their own gardens, minimising the use of plastic, purifying the swimming pool without chemicals and generating green electricity. In the past year, we have slept in great places, where owners and staff have proven time and time again that sustainable hotels are not shabby or old-fashioned, but unique, surprising and they come with a lot of personal attention.

One of those great places is Kingdom Ecolodge in Sri Lanka.

8. Reduce your holiday carbon emissions by not eating meat

Getting to know new dishes is one of the best things about travelling. As a seasoned vegetarian (and since half a year a vegan), I can tell you that even without meat and fish you will not be short of anything on your journey. And that’s great because the easiest way to reduce your personal carbon emissions is to adapt to a vegan diet. An additional advantage is that you considerably reduce the risk of stomach problems in foreign countries. Hygiene standards in many countries are not as high as in western societies. So it’s possible that the piece of meat in your tikka masala has been laying in the full sun on the market all day. That’s the best recipe for that nasty Delhi Belly.

9. Be economical with facilities and raw materials

Be economical with facilities and raw materials. This can easily be done by…
…turning off the air conditioning or heating and lighting when you leave the hotel room.
…be economical with tap and shower water.
…not using any plastic bottles of water while traveling. How You can read that here.
…leaving the mini’s in your hotel room and bring your own soap and a large bottle of organic shampoo.
…not having your towels and bed linen washed every day.
…asking if you can get your drink without a straw.
…booking a cycling or walking tour instead of a tour by car.

10. Book with a sustainable organisation

Not only you but also the organization where you book your trip can do a lot to reduce the carbon emissions of your holiday. Therefore, book at a sustainable travel organization. A good example is the online travel agency Better Places Travel. They compensate the full carbon emissions of your trip. That includes the flight, accommodation, local transport and excursions. They even go a step further. At Better Places, they don’t wait until the government finally comes up with a flight tax. They have been saving an air passenger tax of 5 euros per traveller for years. That amount has now risen to 20,000 euros. They invest that money in the construction of dozens of new solar power projects in the Netherlands. Next year, the amount will increase, to 7.50 euros per person. They will search for projects to make the travel industry more sustainable. For example, by providing homestays with solar panels. No worries, by the way, they pay the flight tax themselves, so it doesn’t cost you anything extra.

If after reading this article you decide to replace your faraway trips more often by destinations that can also be reached by train? Then you probably like to know that Better Places will soon offer sustainable travel within Europe as well! So that helps to reduce your holiday carbon emissions on shorter trips as well!

Would you like to explore the world by train? Start with Europe!

We believe Europe is a great continent to explore by train. The facilities are great, distances between amazing places and cities are small and the network is getting better and better. At Eurail.com people from all over the world get a chance to explore exciting cities, incredible nature and many cultures that have been evolving for centuries. Click this link, buy your tickets and start planning for your grand adventure!