Carbon offsetting and Kilimanjaro

February 19th 2008

According to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), over 85,000 flights take off from airports around the world every single day. Those flights burn 130 million tonnes of fuel annually, a figure that is projected to rise to 300 million tonnes by 2015, and 450 million tonnes by 2050. As everybody knows, this consumption is having a negative impact on our environment, particularly the carbon emissions that contribute directly to global warming. And with Al Gore and others now pointing to the reduction of glacial ice on the summit of Kilimanjaro as one of the most obvious manifestations of the negative impact of global warming, the subject seems particularly pertinent to Kili climbers.

These days, many people are looking to reduce their own 'carbon footprint' - and inevitably a whole industry has emerged to help people do just that. The rise of carbon offsetting companies is the most obvious manifestation of this: companies that, for a fee, will balance the environmental cost of your flight by investing in a 'green' scheme such as the planting of trees. For example, somebody who takes a long-haul flight may choose to offset the extra carbon emissions their travel has produced by paying one of these carbon offsetters, who will put your money into some scheme - such as growing trees, for example - that will counterbalance the damage caused by these extra emissions.

Carbon offsetting sounds like a reasonable enough and simple system in theory but it does also give rise to a whole host of other questions - not the least of which being the question of whether these offsetting schemes are effective, or little more than a soothing balm to the troubled consciences of international travellers. Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple one, for there are a lot of cowboys when it comes to carbon offsetting, largely because gauging carbon emissions is an uncertain science, but also because there are currently no regulatory standards for the industry as a whole.

The picture is further confused by the different schemes adopted by each of these carbon offsetting industries. Schemes have included the planting of trees - a natural way to counter the effects of global warming (trees of course act as a sponge for carbon dioxide, so tree planting provides a direct counter to the effects of global warming. Unfortunately, tree-planting brings with it its own issues, , not the least of which is the delay between planting a tree and the time when it is large enough to actually trap a significant amount of carbon dioxide; trees are, of course, not exactly quick growers.
Furthermore, tree growth and health is dependent on location, fertilizers and pesticides, with the latter two burdened with their own environmental cost. The disruption of local water supplies and the eviction of local communities from land designated for tree-planting are other issues.

Other schemes have included the introduction of cooking stoves used in some communities in lesser developed countries so they emit fewer emissions, or the distribution of free energy-saving lightbulbs in Africa. The first scheme, however, was criticised for its lack of any rigorous studies into the benefits of distributing these new energy-efficient stoves, while it transpired that the lightbulb scheme was merely duplicating the work of the local government which was already distributing these bulbs, drastically reducing the impact of this particular offsetting scheme.

So what can one do about offsetting or reducing the carbon emissions from your flight to Kilimanjaro? The following are a few suggestions:

1) When booking your flight, try and get as few flights to your travel destination as possible
2) Short flights, typically within country, have a particularly bad carbon footprint. When travelling, try exploring the local area thoroughly, and try other forms of transport other than flying if you want to cover bigger distances. See Ed Gillepsies ‘slow travel’ for some ideas [http://www.lowcarbontravel.com ].
3) A little studying will reap great benefits when it comes to choosing a carbon offsetting firm. The best we have heard of so far is Carbon Clear http://www.carbon-clear.com/ , which for as little as £15 (around US$30) will help you to counterbalance the environmental damage caused by your trip to Tanzania.