Website of the UK government

Travelling less

Think whether you need to travel by air - reducing the amount you travel can reduce your impact on climate change. For example:

• can you get what you want nearer to home, or without travelling at all - for example, taking holidays within the UK and closer to home, or using videoconferences rather than flying to business meetings?
• taking one longer holiday will have a lower impact than going on several short trips if you are flying each time
  

• Holidays: greener choices

How you get there

If you do need to travel, using alternative means of getting there can help reduce the environmental impacts. It is often possible to make international journeys without flying.

• Information and advice on travelling by rail and sea world-wide Opens new window

If you have to travel by air, you can offset your climate change impact

Flying and many other activities contribute to climate change because of the emissions produced when fuel is burned. You can compensate for your unavoidable emissions by paying someone to make an equivalent emissions saving or reduction - this is called offsetting. Offsetting projects include, for example, using solar or wind power to generate electricity without producing any greenhouse gases.

The government offsets its travel by purchasing Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) which are rigorous, verified credits. An increasing number of air travel companies offer an offsetting scheme when you purchase a flight. Look out for these, or calculate and offset your flight through a separate offsetting provider - though be sure to read what it is you are purchasing when doing so. To help guide you the government is developing a code of best practice for companies which sell offsets. Companies accredited under the code will be badged with a quality mark to identify their good quality offsets.

Offsetting should be a final choice if air travel is unavoidable. Although it can help reduce the impact of your activities in the short term, offsetting is not a long-term solution to global climate change and is not a substitute for reducing emissions at their source.

• Offsetting - balancing your emissions

Travelling to the airport

Road traffic is a major contributor to air pollution near airports. Leaving your car at home and finding alternative ways of travelling to the airport, such as using public transport, can help reduce climate change effects and local air pollution.

The wider issue

Air travel makes a growing contribution to CO2 emissions and currently accounts for 6.3 per cent of the UK total.  The full climate impact of aviation goes beyond the effects of CO2 emissions alone, although there is still considerable scientific uncertainty about the scale of the impact of these effects.

More useful links

• UK travel information Opens new window
• Air travel (travel and transport section)