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Everyone booking a flight on lastminute.com will have a clicky option to make an offsetting donation. Based on a tariff between 50p and 90p per hour of flying time, the CO2 emissions from each passenger’s flight and the cost to offset will be displayed alongside the ticket price and you’ll be asked whether you want to offset when it comes to pay time.
This service goes through Climate Care, a CO2 offset operation some people have a problem with. We haven’t looked into them hard enough, but the next Bello goes into the question a little further, with links to more information and some still stronger critique.
First Choice holidays (who have something of a reputation for being first out of the starting gates on environmental issues, at least for a holidaycorp), are taking a more pro-active stance, perhaps, charging all its customers a £1 carbon offset levy, which the customer will have to ask to opt out of if they don’t want to pay it; and you’re going to look a right so’n’so in the agents if you say you won’t.
Only £1? tho’? That’s one of the many problems with offset, there doesn’t seem to be an agreement on how much offset costs... lastminute.com & Climate Care would charge you £2 for a flight to Madrid, say... And children are only 50p, as if they used less fuel or something... Nice idea but it all sounds a bit tokenistic to us.
And now even hoary old dinosaur trade bodies ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents), the Federation of Tour Operators and the Association of Independent Tour Operators are to be launching a buy-your-offset on the highstreet scheme (no details available) early next year. Joining schemes already created by the CoOp and other big players: yes it is tokenistic, no it’s not the solution, but at least it puts the issues firmly on the agenda and in front of every customer, we mustn’t be too cynical for a kick-off.
Of course, for a REAL real world comparison, what you need is the Bello Mundo Carbon Comparator - that's right here: www.sustravel.co.uk/carbon_calculator
...oh and we make Madrid & back come to 653 miles on yer bike!!
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