With every journey comes CO2 emissions, whether you go by plane, car, boat or train. By calculating how much you emit during a holiday, you can choose the most sustainable option or exactly compensate your emissions. To calculate your own CO2 emissions from a trip, you can use an online CO2 calculator. This calculator will estimate the total emissions of your trip based on your mode of transport and destination. Many of these calculators mainly look at the mode of transport and the number of kilometers you make to your travel destination. The CO2 emissions of your trip outside of transport are more difficult to calculate.
Calculate your CO2 emissions journey yourself
If you prefer to calculate yourself how much CO2 you emit during your trip, there are a number of things you should take into account. For example, there is no less than 7 to 11 times as much emission tax on a plane trip than with a train on the same route. Compared to a car , a flight is about 2 to 4 times more polluting . These numbers all depend on how many people are going and how far away the destination is. You will find the biggest differences between the CO2 emissions of your trip if you have a short travel distance. For short travel distances, air traffic is relatively the most polluting compared to car traffic or the train.
Calculate the CO2 emissions of your car journey
When calculating the CO2 emissions of your trip, there are also small things that are important for the calculation. For example, when you travel by car, you need more fuel if you have a caravan behind your exhaust or if you have a roof box or bicycle rack with you. In general, the more weight you carry, the more polluting the car journey is and the more CO2 your car emits. There are a number of standard calculations that you can use when traveling by car. For example, with diesel you emit an average of 132 gr of CO2 per kilometer, while with petrol this is 120 CO2 per kilometer . These emissions are calculated on average consumption. This can therefore differ greatly based on weight and car.
Calculate CO2 emissions from air travel
The average CO2 emissions from a flight is 285 g CO2 per kilometer based on someone traveling alone. You can use this number, but it differs per distance and also per aircraft how high the emissions are. It is possible that you sometimes come across the term CO2e in CO2 calculations. For air travel, this is used to indicate other harmful greenhouse gases. These gases are converted to this term because one CO2e is equal to the effect that 1 kilogram of CO2 has. This way you can get an easy overview of all harmful substances that are emitted during your flight.
What do you do with your CO2 calculation?
Once you have calculated the CO2 emissions of your trip, it is important to do something with it. There are many options online to easily offset your emissions. However, there is also a disadvantage with CO2 compensation; you do not reverse the pollution with it. The CO2 emitted by your journey is in the air and no matter how many trees you plant, the specific CO2 remains in the air. It is best to calculate the CO2 before your trip and choose the most sustainable trip based on that. This way you ensure in advance that too many emissions do not end up in the air and that you no longer have to compensate anything.
