Travel Industry to Go Carbon Neutral to Mark Earth Day

To mark Earth Day on April 22, some members of the travel industry are responding to the conflict of interest between travel and love of the earth with the launch of carbon offset programs and new policies that allow consumers to erase part of their carbon footprint.

Throughout the month of April, Delta Airlines has pledged to invest in carbon offsets for customers traveling on domestic flights in high-traffic airports across the country, AFP reported.

The offsets will go toward one of three projects that include tree planting projects in countries like Kenya and Uganda, to help reverse the effects of deforestation, drought and famine, forest conservation in Zimbabwe and a project to green the construction industry in Brazil.

Canada’s flagship carrier Air Canada claims it will save 160 tons of carbon on 22 domestic flights on Earth Day by introducing biojet fuel into the airport’s shared fuel system.

Ahead of Earth Day, ride-share service Lyft announced plans to offset carbon emissions from all Lyft rides globally. By their calculations, in one year, Lyft estimates that they will offset more than a million metric tons of carbon, equal to planting tens of millions of trees, or taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road.

Short-term vacation rental giant Airbnb announced the launch of an Office of Healthy Tourism, created to drive “local, authentic and sustainable tourism” across its networks around the world.

According to a study commissioned by Airbnb, the environmental impact of Airbnb stays is significantly lower than stays in traditional hotels. By their calculations, Airbnb guests in Europe achieved energy savings equal to that of 826,000 homes, and reduced water usage equal to 13,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. In North America, guest stays at Airbnb properties resulted in sparing the planet of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of 354,000 cars.