Carbon offsetting takes off on all BA UK flights – but how many trees do you owe to go global?

A study by 1st Move International has revealed how many trees we’d need to plant to offset our holiday carbon footprint.

The study calculated the carbon (in CO2 tonnes) generated per person for the 20 most visited holiday destinations from the UK, and then calculated how many trees would be needed to offset these emissions. 

Trees Needed Per Person to Offset Carbon – Top 20 Holiday Destinations

Long haul has the biggest impact. You’ll need to plant 19 trees to offset your trip to Phuket in Thailand, and 16 if you’re heading to Las Vegas. 

Spain, which has 5 destinations in the top 20, requires between 5 and 6 trees per trip, with Mallorca requiring more trees than any other European location. You’ll need to plant 6 trees to offset your holiday in the sun! 

Football Fields of Trees Needed Per Total Visitors – Top 10 Holiday Destinations

The study also calculated how many football fields of trees the UK would need to plant a year to offset the annual number of visitors to the 10 most popular holiday destinations.

Spain beats long-haul locations like the USA as the worst offender. The UK would need to plant 3,017 football fields worth of trees to offset the 15.62 million visitors we send to Spain annually.

Trees Needed Per Person to Offset Carbon – Business Destinations

Sometimes we’re flying for business, not pleasure. Taking a list of the most important business locations globally, we’ve calculated how trees companies should be planting to offset the travel costs of sending their staff around the world.

Asia is the worst offender. A business trip from London to Singapore will see you owing 20 trees, with Hong Kong and Tokyo coming next with 18. 

If your business is concerned with their carbon footprint, then it might make sense to do business with Germany – a trip to Frankfurt would need just 1 tree to offset the carbon footprint.

Jack Limerick, Director of Web Services at 1st Move International, said:

“Everyone is aware that air travel has an impact on the environment, but from our research we found that people struggled to picture exactly what this meant. 

“To the average person, 0.16 CO2 in tonnes is a vague figure – there’s no way to know if that’s a lot or a little. So we wanted to visualise these numbers in a clear way that people would understand, through trees, through football fields.

“When displayed like this, the results are both sobering and surprising. The fact that we’d each have to plant 6 trees to offset a holiday to Spain – that’s a shocking figure per person. 

“Or to think that the UK in total, owes 3,017 football fields worth of trees to cover the 15 million visitors we send to Spain annually – these numbers really put the scale into perspective.

“As a shipping company who ship globally, it’s important for us to start these conversations. Already, we’re seeing huge changes in the airline and shipping industries as they move to become more environmentally friendly. This is a topic driven by the needs of the customers, and one which only become more important in years to come.”

The full study is available on the 1st Move International blog:

https://www.shipit.co.uk/blog/other-articles/cost-of-carbon