Carbon Offsetting

Carbon offsetting works best when coupled with a big effort to reduce our energy output. We hope that people will consider travelling locally for shorter breaks, explore the possibility of rail rather than air travel and choose green hotels over conventional hotels. We also hope that you choose to offset your carbon emissions and thereby support one of the many projects that we think are doing really great work. All of the projects we support are UN or Kyoto approved carbon reduction programs, so you can rest assured that your money is going to a good place.

Carbon offsetting is the act of reducing ("offsetting") the greenhouse gas emissions produced from an activity such as driving or flying. By offsetting your carbon emissions you are effectively donating money to 'clean energy' projects that will prevent (or have already prevented) an equivalent amount of CO2 being released elsewhere in the world.

Simply use our carbon calculator to work out how many tonnes of CO2 your trip generates, buy the equivalent number of 'carbon offset' credits and choose which of our projects you wish the money to go to.

Given that greenhouse gases are a global problem, it doesn't matter if you make the reduction in Austria or Zaire, the positive effects on the environment will be felt the world over.

Does Carbon Offsetting Work?

Unfortunately carbon offsetting is not without its problems or its critics. As well as doing little to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, there is no foolproof method for measuring the exact number of carbon emissions generated by an individual. Because the carbon offset industry is currently unregulated, there are a lot of carbon cowboys around and the market for offsets (the price per tonne of carbon dioxide) is highly fragmented ranging from US$1 to US$20.

No matter how you choose to travel, you can offset the carbon emissions produced from your trip right here through The Good Travel Company. We have teamed up with Climate Friendly to help you to offset your emissions.

The Hebei wind farm in northern China near the Mongolian border is a 40 wind turbine project on Wolongtu Mountain, Kangbao County, near Zhangjiakou City in China's Hebei province. It is already in operation and is generating some 32,000 MWs of clean energy a year, displacing the use of polluting coal-fired electricity in the region and reducing more than 30,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution. The project meets Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project standards and has the additional benefit of providing much needed energy security to a remote region that previously suffered from unreliable energy sources.