Air travel in China just got greener

Ctrip.com, one of China’s online largest online travel sites, recently announced their partnership with Emissions Zero -- the guys who helped make URBN and One Wellness carbon neutral as well as help Expo visitors offset their carbon footprint -- to help you offset the carbon emissions of your next flight. Pretty good timing considering Dragon Boat Festival is almost here. (That woud be June 14-16 for those behind on their vacation plans.)

“It is important for us to give our customers the opportunity to offset the carbon impact of their flights in a way that is productive for and meaningful to our local community,” says Ctrip creative coordinator Emily Eliot. “By allowing our customers the opportunity to help fund high-quality emissions reduction projects in China, we are empowering them to make a real contribution to the growth of China’s green initiatives."

There is increasing demand for offsetting in China as awareness of environment issues increases.

— Richard Scotney, Emissions Zero business development manager

How it works: On purchasing a flight, Ctrip customers will be able to find out the carbon emissions resulting from their trip. From there they’ll also be given the opportunity to offset their emissions by helping to fund one of Emissions Zero’s high-quality emissions reductions projects. 

If you’re asking “Emissions reductions projects?” Think wind farms in western China or tree planting in inner Mongolia. All Emissions Zero’s projects are located in China, and include a number of different technology types, from wind power to landfill gas. 

Empowerment through education

Even though aviation only accounts for a small part of China's carbon footprint, with the growing middle and upper class here, it is growing fast, and consumers need to understand the carbon impact of their flight and be empowered to offset this impact.

Additionally “we look for projects that have strong sustainable development credentials,” says Emissions Zero business development manager Richard Scotney. “Our projects tend to be located in rural China, and the projects also create new jobs, build life-changing infrastructure and generally help develop less developed parts of China. So not only do offsets have a positive environmental impact, they have a strong social impact too.”

Although this new project is a perfectly timed to help travelers go green for Dragon Boat festival travel, it’s part of a larger trend of bringing green projects from the fringe into China’s mainstream, consumer-oriented markets. “There is increasing demand for offsetting in China as awareness of environment issues increases -- although naturally the level of activity is below that which we see in Europe or North America,” says Scotney.

Scotney points out that the programs like this face one serious challenge in China: education. "In China, there is still a large amount of educating to be done to increase awareness of the carbon impact of individual actions," he says. "As Ctrip is the leading provider of flights in China, it is a great platform from which we can educate consumers about the carbon impact of their travel."

Our karma feels greener already.