Go Greener, Australia

I won’t be posting as often over the next two weeks, as I’m off for a well-deserved holiday with a good friend, in a place that has unreliable internet connections

However, this is still relevant to environmental issues, since I’m flying to my overseas destination. My round-trip is about 27660 km altogether. According to a few carbon-calculators, this creates approximately 9.4 tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions. I’m trying to reduce my eco-footprint in as many ways as possible, so I’ve bought a flight offset for this trip.

I chose to go with Neco’s flight offsets, for long-distance international flights. Neco is accredited by the NSW GGAS program, one of the first greenhouse gas trading schemes in the world, and is just about all that’s available in Australia. The scheme is audited regularly by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW (IPART).

Neco gains carbon credits from the GGAS by helping individuals and businesses reduce their carbon emissions. When I buy a flight offset, they give some of those carbon credits back to NSWGGAS on my behalf. In effect, the carbon dioxide I’m creating by flying all over the place is offset by Neco’s hard work in reducing carbon dioxide emissions elsewhere.

There are other options for flight offsets in Australia: Todae, Climate Friendly, GreenFleet, Easy Being Green and Elementree offer a range of offsets, and some airlines and travel agents sell them too.

It’s very difficult to check up on the quality of offsets. More expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better quality, but there’s not really any other reliable indicator that you’ve spent your money wisely. Choice magazine is used to assessing the marketing claims of consumer products, and even they say it’s very difficult to tell what’s going on.

The ideal solution would be to find a method of fast long-distance transport overseas that doesn’t cause so much pollution. Teleconferencing for business is a good alternative to sending people, but it’s not really a replacement for spending time with your friends and family who live in remote areas. Until someone comes up with a better idea, I’m going to keep my flights infrequent, and offset the ones I do take.

I hope you all have a lovely time while I’m away. I’ve lined up one post for each week I’m away, to keep you entertained