What is the greenest way to travel?

In the name of making your life easier, we have made this very rough guide to green, low carbon travel to help you dodge the stats and simply see how your travel options might compare when it comes to their carbon footprint.

Cleanest to dirtiest (in terms of carbon emissions, per person, per km travelled)

Walk

Cycle

French trains (they run on nuclear power)

Coach

Very fuel efficient car, 4 people in it

Average train

Average car, 2 people in it.

Ferry/cruise ship*

Hi-speed train

Long-haul flight

Short-haul flight

We based this green  travel list on an aggregate of emissions calculations offered by a number of carbon calculators including our own, but should stress the very subjective nature of these results.

It’s a bit of a minefield, and the honest answer is that no-one really knows. There are many guides, calculators and estimates out there. They are all based on different assumptions of the many factors that will vary the actual environmental impact of your journey. These include efficiency, load, number of passengers, length and nature of the journey, directness of route etc, not to mention other nasty gases released by burning different fuels, which contribute to things like acid rain, ozone depletion and health/respiratory problems.

General points:

Trains and coaches are generally eco-friendly choices.

There is good news for fans of driving: a modern fuel efficient car (we are talking at least 120g of C02/km) can be one of the greenest modes of transport, if filled up with people. Drive a gas guzzling 4x4 on your own across Europe however, and flying would probably be less polluting.

Hi speed trains use a lot of energy.  Many think they could be the answer – low carbon, high speed, comfortable. Unfortunately, according to The Green Travel Guide, getting a train to 350km/hr + uses as much energy per seat as a passenger jet.  So it is only really a green option in France (where they are nuclear powered) or if they are run on renewable energy (unlikely at the moment).

*There is also some confusion as to exactly how much impact ferries and cruises have, and very little accurate research has been done. Swapping a short haul flight for a jaunt across the channel by ferry and full car is likely to have a big carbon saving, but swapping your flight for a 14 day cruise may well add to your carbon footprint. Ferries and cruisers are also often linked to many other problems, particularly sewage dumping and use of low grade, highly toxic fuels, but there has been a lot of recent improvement in the industry. This is discussed on greentraveller.co.uk.