July 2024
Diane Henkels
Airline travel and carbon footprint and virtual v in person attendance:
We always hear that airline travel is the highest of carbon footprint and since we took different airline trips we did a deeper dive there.
We also hear that many resources are saved from not flying to be with people you are meeting and this blog explore this further below.
Consider though, also, social impacts of less travel where there is then less opportunity for networking and mentoring. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9338835/
People meeting face-to-face communicate with each other in many ways that are not limited to voice. Facial expressions and body language convey a great deal of information, and unconscious communication cues help to facilitate discussion. These cues can be missed or lost entirely when a meeting is held virtually, decreasing the energy of participants.
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-online-meetings-73892.html
Regarding the decrease in greenhouse case emissions:
Exploring this further we see that International Civil Aviation Organization (“ICAO”) has done a deep dive into the topic. https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Carbonoffset/Pages/default.aspx and Bonneville Environmental Foundation provided offsets calculators for individual airline trips.
In 2023 we took a transatlantic flight for two persons (PDX-CDG in Paris, France) and at least one in-state commuter flights Portland-Medford, Oregon, and a couple trips Portland-Salt Lake City, Utah.
Per BEF:
Bonneville Environmental Foundation calculator of one round trip flight for one person Portland-Paris-France is 20,500 airline miles: 3.46 mT.
BEF calculator PDX to Medford, OR (r-t 892 mi) one round trip flight for one person is: .15 mT.
BEF calculator PDX-SLC two trips (r-t 5000) for one person is: .86 mT total emissions.
Carbon output of air miles travelled: airline: 4.4 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. $50 of offsets purchased from Bonneville Environmental Foundation B-E-F.org
Measuring the footprint of travel by commuter plane (.15 mT emissions) is less than driving alone in a gasoline powered vehicle Portland-Medford, Oregon 550 mi. Produces .2 mT emissions
NOTE:
Per the ICAO traveling in premium cabin is twice the carbon.
Per the ICAO for flights longer than 3000 km, CO2 emissions per passenger in premium cabin is twice the emissions per passenger in economy
https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Carbonoffset/Pages/default.aspx