How to reduce your carbon footprint while travelling

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We’re all excited by the prospect of leaving the local area we’ve been more or less bound to for the past 12 months and heading away to explore the world again.But one important lesson that’s been confirmed to us since the pandemic struck is that when people don’t travel, the world is a cleaner place. So how can we continue to see and love our planet without creating a huge carbon footprint? Here are some tips...

Use green transport

Obviously, there are times when avoiding taking to the air is impossible, such as travelling from the UK to New Zealand. But for shorter journeys to other European destinations consider taking the bus or train. After all, why the rush? You’re on holiday!

The easiest way to minimise the carbon footprint from the transport you use is to holiday within the UK and take public transport to your destination. It can be a much more relaxing way to travel than by car, and you tend to see more of the landscape through which you travel, as you’ve nothing else to worry about.

Also, think about the transport you use once you’re actually on holiday. Do you need a hire car, or could you travel by bike? Do you need to go anywhere at all, or could you just enjoy spending a week lazing around your beautiful destination?

Eat local

This is an important one, as well as a thoroughly enjoyable one. Shop at the local markets, choose restaurants that serve local food. You’ll discover more new tastes than you thought existed, it greatly enhances the cultural experience of your trip away, and the food miles will be cut dramatically.


Choose eco-friendly accommodation

Choose those that have made a commitment to cutting their carbon footprint. They might be using renewable energy, sourcing local cuisine, are off-grid such as glamping or offsetting their carbon. If you make it clear to everyone that this is why you’ve chosen this particular hotel, other accommodation providers will realise this is a way to attract new visitors and will put their efforts into cutting their carbon footprints too.

 

Offset your own carbon footprint

This is accepting the fact that your trip will harm the environment to some extent, despite your best efforts to minimise this. Instead, you can buy carbon offsets to neutralise your impact. That would mean giving money to an organisation that plants trees, creates green renewable energy, or a whole host of similar schemes.

It’s not always comfortable to consider the contradiction between your desire for a greener planet and the problems you cause the world from your desire to travel. But if you manage the issue head-on, you’ll see there are plenty of ways you can reduce your impact to a minimum, and perhaps even help the situation by encouraging others to do likewise.