CO2 compensation – Reduce the harmful climate impact of your own flight
Sat 01.07.23 | 08:10 am | By Julian von Bulow
In 2021 the deer meadow in the district of Oberhavel was wet again. | Image: dpa/S. stick
Cheap flights tempt people to go on holiday abroad. The resulting emissions can also be compensated there – thanks to a Kreuzberg company. But it is also possible in Brandenburg. However, flying remains problematic. By Julian von Bulow
To BER, then to Barcelona and back: around 0.87 tons. To New York: 3.8 tons. After Sydney: even 12.7 tons. A citizen of Berlin or Brandenburg releases about as much CO2 when he or she embarks on a flight.
Last year, Germans emitted 10.8 tons of CO2 per capita. According to the Federal Environment Agency, every German would live climate-neutral if they emitted less than one tonne per year.
Scientists agree: it is best for the climate if greenhouse gases are not released into the air in the first place. But not every flight is replaceable. People want to see their family, for example, or simply don’t want to miss out on their dream trip. One possibility is then to compensate for the harmful effects on the climate. Organizations in both Berlin and Brandenburg offer an opportunity to do this.
The Kreuzberg-based company Atmosfair is best known for its flight calculator, which you can use to determine how much greenhouse gas your own trip emits. Flight altitude, kerosene consumption and aircraft type are all taken into account. The emissions can then be compensated with a donation – but the projects are in other countries.
For example, modern cooking stoves in Nigeria, Lesotho, Rwanda and India are financed. This reduces wood consumption so that forests that are important for the climate are not cut down, says Atmosfair. You also support solar systems with your own donation, for example in Senegal or Madagascar. The advantage of projects in countries of the Global South is that up to ten times more CO2 can be saved there than in the EU for each euro invested.
Compensating for one tonne of CO2 costs around 23 euros. To settle the emissions of the trip to Barcelona and back, it takes around 21 euros, to New York 87 euros and to Sydney 293 euros.
Wet bogs to keep CO2 in the ground
In Brandenburg, the focus is not on projects in other countries, but on its own former moorland. In moors, plants sank to the bottom in the water, and over time peat developed from them – a fertile, carbon-rich layer. For centuries, people drained the moors with ditches and dams in order to get to the peat and till the land. However, this also starts the decomposition of the peat and the release of greenhouse gases.
The “Moor Futures” project aims to prevent this. The emissions of a flight are not automatically calculated here. Instead, researchers determine the amount of greenhouse gases that are bound in the peat of a former moor and would be released if it were not waterlogged. This amount is then offered for sale as CO2 certificates to finance costs for the waterlogging. Travelers then have to use a calculator like Atmosfair’s to calculate how many certificates they should then buy to compensate for the air travel.
The money is then used to rewet former bogs. In 2021, for example, the deer meadow near Freienhagen (Oberhavel district) between Nassenheide and Liebenwalde was restored and, according to the company, prevented 6,744 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
Is it only about CO2?
No, in addition to CO2 there is also water vapor and other greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane or nitrous oxide, which contribute to global warming. In order to make the climate impact easier to represent in calculations, the impact of the various gases is converted in such a way that it corresponds to a quantity of CO2 that would have the same impact. Instead of saying “One flight causes x tons of CO2, x tons of water vapor, x tons of nitrous oxide” you can break it all down to one number: “One flight causes x tons of CO2 equivalents.” In this text, too, all numbers refer to CO2 equivalents .
The challenge is to find areas in which there is still enough peat in such a way that a higher water level can flow through it. And then the landowners have to get involved. “These are voluntary projects. If we don’t come to an agreement with the people on site, then there will be no project,” says Martin Szaramowicz from the Brandenburg Area Agency. It should ensure that the former moors in Brandenburg get wet again.
New certificates at the end of the year
“There are some very promising moor areas on which we are currently developing projects. The first investigations have already started there and the evaluation, which is intended to enable an assessment of the area and the rewetting potential, is in full swing,” says the agency request with. We are therefore confident that we will be able to offer new certificates by the end of the year. Until then, you can acquire certificates for the Königmoor in Schleswig-Holstein.
However, the emissions here cannot be compensated in such a small way as with Atmosfair – you can only pay for one ton of CO2 each. It currently costs 74 euros. If you travel from BER to Barcelona and back, you would have to pay 74 euros, 296 euros to New York and 962 euros to Sydney.
The compensation in Brandenburg is therefore significantly more expensive than at Atmosfair (approx. 23 euros per ton). But the success is visible and sometimes even walkable. Without a flight.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, July 1st, 2023, 4:55 p.m
Contribution by Julian von Bülow