Climate-Smart Travel: 10 Sustainable Travel Tips That Are More Useful Than “Don’t Fly” [Part 5]
This is Part 5 of my series for Tourism Declares A Climate Emergency – all about climate smart travel and finding realistic ways to do better.
Need to catch up? Here are the rest of the posts in this series on travel and climate:
- Part 1: This Travel Blog Declares A Climate Emergency (Wait, What?)
- Part 2: Confession: This Is My Carbon Footprint from Flights This Year
- Part 3: The Best Travel Carbon Calculators (To Find Lower-Emission Flights & Travel)
- Part 4: Should You Buy Carbon Offsets for Your Travel or… Something Else?
- Bonus: This is where I’m putting my money for carbon removal.
A few posts ago in this series, I calculated my carbon footprint from the 30 flights I took in a year. The number I came up with was just slightly over 16 metric tonnes of CO2.
That is, statistically and technically speaking, a shit ton of carbon emissions. Excuse my French, but my god, it’s a lot.
To give some context, the individual emissions budget determined by the IPCC (in plain English: how much each person on the planet should emit each year in order to keep climate change to 1.5 degrees C) is 1,500 kg.
That’s about 1/10th of my personal emissions just from flights last year.
And I based my calculation on flights because those are the lion’s share of my emissions. Of course, that won’t be true for everyone, but considering my line of work and how much travel it entails/allows, it’s a fair assumption.
(Of the 30 individual flights I took, most were for business travel – to destinations I wrote about for this blog, like Italy and Mississippi, or for professional conferences. Since there’s such a fine line between work and personal travel in my business, I included all of my flights in the calculation.)
Most travel bloggers don’t do this, so why are you?
Sharing all of this information was part of my commitment to Tourism Declares A Climate Emergency. When I originally joined, in 2021, the premise of the “club” was that every member (mostly travel businesses, like tour companies) needed to calculate their emissions for a “base year,” (I used 2022), and then make a plan for how to reduce those emissions by 50%.
(Tourism Declares then changed its requirements slightly, as I explained in Part 1, to align with the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. (I’m a signatory of that one, as well.) But the point is still that I have to find ways to reduce emissions.)
So the most important question is: How?
Here’s what I’ve come up with – these are the rules I’m living by to reduce my travel carbon footprint. They’re simple strategies we can all apply to achieve more climate-smart travel.
1. Fly direct whenever possible.
Direct flights are more efficient because planes burn the most fuel during take-off and landing. So minimizing the number of take-offs and landings is the simplest way to reduce the emissions per mile you want to travel.
2. Make short-haul flights the first ones you skip.
Mostly for the same reason as above, short-haul flights are the most wasteful way to travel. Think about it: A plane needs the same burst of power to get off the ground whether it’s going to fly 500 miles or 5,000 miles. (Consider the same type of plane, of course.)
Using all that energy to get airborne and then not going very far really brings up the carbon emission per mile.
So replacing shorter flights with ground transportation or ferries should be the very first change you make on this list.
Tip: Use Omio to search for every available transit option for a certain route. For Europe and North America, it shows train, bus, flight, and ferry options in a single search.
[Details: Check out my review of Omio and other European train booking platforms.]
More Sustainable Travel Guides:
- Guide to train travel in Italy
- Guide to ferry travel in Greece (and around Europe)
- 3 Days in the Adirondacks – and how to get there without a car or plane
3. Always fly the most efficient airline.
This doesn’t get talked about enough, and based on the comparisons I’ve done, it can sometimes even be more powerful than flying direct.
As I’ve said before, when comparing travel carbon calculators, one thing I really love about the flight carbon calculator Atmosfair is that it shows results in terms of the most efficient airlines.
I love that, because the differences in emissions can be massive – easily 30%, but I’ve found examples where it’s up to 63%.
For example:
I wish it were as easy as just saying, “Always fly X airline, they’re the most efficient.”
But that’s not the case. It depends on what type of aircraft each airline uses for each route. The best airline for one route is often the worst for another.
Accidentally efficient
It was only after I calculated my air travel emissions for a year of travel blogging that I realized I had bought a ticket on the most efficient airline for the route for 23 of my 30 flights.
(I had already been paying attention to the climate info in my flight searches, but I wasn’t really aware of how much of a difference it would make until I ran the numbers at the end of the year. And yes, I was still choosing more based on price than emissions – although more efficient are not always more expensive!)
But still, if I’d always bought a ticket on the most efficient airline, instead of just usually, my overall carbon footprint from flights would have been 16% lower.
That may not sound like much, but when you’re trying to reduce your travel emissions by 50%, that’s almost a third of the goal from one easy change!
How do you find the most efficient airline?
This answer has changed a lot since I started writing about this topic. In 2026, my answer is definitely to use BookBetter to book your flights.
Before, I used to use Kayak’s “Least CO2” filter to sort search results by carbon emissions. But sadly, they removed that feature from their search results sometime around 2023.
Skyscanner still has the option to sort flights by climate impact in 2026, though, in a very subtle button at the bottom of the sidebar.
But BookBetter has made climate-friendly travel it’s entire personality, taking into account factors like contrail climate impact, use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, and many others. I’m all for it.
Stay tuned for my guide with pro tips on how to use BookBetter – coming soon!
BookBetter
4. Fly less (once), then stay on the ground.
Yes, flying less is the most obvious suggestion, and it’s also the least helpful, in the way it’s normally presented.
Don’t get me wrong, even just the basic advice to take fewer flights has to be part of the conversation. But it’s more useful to know that there are travel start-ups coming up with creative ways to do something other than fly, once you get to your destination
Sustainable Travel Companies for Fewer Flights:
Here are a few examples, all from companies we’ve traveled with and whose founders I’ve met.
- Byway Travel, a company that plans flight-free vacations in Europe! Pretty much the coolest idea ever, in my opinion, they help make taking the train a fun part of the journey, instead of a hassle.
Byway: Flight-free Holidays
Byway is a fantastic new company in the UK that creates fully curated, private European trips without any flights. They're a Certified B Corp focused on getting us off the beaten path and enjoying a slower pace of travel.
You can customize any part of a route they've designed – like Sicily by Sleeper Train, or Canal Cities in the Netherlands (not just Amsterdam) – or create your own from scratch. They'll handle the bookings, and even restaurant & activity recommendations.
- UnCruise, an alternative to traditional cruises, with wilderness explorations instead of port visits, and round-trip itineraries designed to eliminate extra flights on the way there.
UnCruise: Small Ship Adventure Cruises
UnCruise is not like any kind of "cruise" you've heard of. And it's the only cruise company I recommend from a sustainability and ethics perspective.
That's why I've taken TWO trips with them in Baja California! Every day is packed with adventures for any energy level (kayaking, hiking, snorkeling and wildlife watching every single day) in pristine, bucket list destinations.
See my blog post for details – and our YouTube video is coming soon!
- Basecamp523, a small Italian tour operator that hosts cycling adventures in Central Italy. The trips range from multi-day e-bike tours through vineyards and rural artisans’ workshops, to aggressive mountain biking. Instead of renting a car and for a road trip, you could rent an e-bike, reduce emissions, get some exercise, and spend your vacation closer to nature.
- GROUP TRIP? We recently hosted this trip as a small group tour with seven Tilted Map readers – and we’re doing it again! Join us in Italy?
[More: Here are more sustainable tour companies I’ve used and recommend.]
5. Stop worrying about being “hypocritical.”
Oof, I have a lot of thoughts on this. For now, I’ll keep them to just two points:
# 1: Shame is not helpful.
Did you read the point above and think, “Yeah, but if I still have to fly to get to Europe to go on your train or bike trip, what’s the point?”
The point is improving what we can. After all, we’re talking about travel for pleasure – it’s inherently “unnecessary,” in a certain sense.
Were you going to fly to Europe anyway? Then consider that part is a given. It’s done. So the question should be: What’s the point in not finding greener ways to travel once you get there?
That gut reaction that says, “what’s the point, I’d be a hypocrite…” is just shame talking.
And shame isn’t helpful. (It’s part of our culture; it’s normal. But that’s why I don’t do flight shaming.)
What is helpful? Better options that don’t suck the joy out of life.
# 2: Sustainability is not a zero-sum game.
One imperfect action doesn’t cancel out other, better actions. That’s just not the way the science works.
“What’s the point of doing X if you’re going to do Y” is a relevant thought only if it helps you improve Y, but not if it stops you from doing X.
Read that again. Let it sink in.
Let that become your new paradigm when thinking about how to travel more sustainably, instead of one built on shame. I promise it will lead to more progress and actual, measurably improvements than just feeling bad about things.
Progress is the only relevant metric, and aiming for perfection is just going to grind progress to a halt.
6. Offset flight emissions… ?
Ahh, the ever-controversial carbon offset. It’s controversial because it’s basically the previous idea in reverse. (Offsets try to make up for something bad by doing something good.)
As you were reading Number 3 (choosing more efficient airlines), you might have wondered why you couldn’t just buy the cheapest flight and offset the emissions, instead of looking for the most efficient flight.
Of course, you could, but the result would not be the same.
Carbon offsets are a lot like another necessary but over-lauded crutch I’ve written about: recycling.
Yes, they’re helpful. The ones that actually work are great for the emissions that are unavoidable, so we should use them – but they don’t fix the problem.
We need to reduce the actual amount of GHG emissions, not just offset them after the fact. (Just like we need to reduce the actual amount of plastic and other single-use packaging we use, not just recycle it after the fact.)
[ Related: Here’s how I avoid buying plastic water bottles – even when traveling in places without safe tap water. ]
That’s why carbon offsets are the last air travel item on this to-do list. But they are a tool.
Bottom Line:
And if you want to invest in offsets, just make sure you’re buying the best ones. (Don’t worry, I wrote a guide to carbon offsets in travel, and what to look for in good ones.)
If you’re not convinced by offsetting, go on to Number 7…
7. Invest in climate projects you believe in.
If you aren’t particularly inspired by the concept of offsets, I get it. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on all climate investments. There are some fantastic programs that can do wonders with any amount you want to give.
Here are a few of the best options I’ve found, where I’ve decided to invest:
- Clean Air Task Force
- Climate Refugees
- Local climate related projects in your community, from tree-planting, to building efficiency improvements.
- Tomorrow’s Air – here’s the story on why I like them, from an inspiring interview I did with the founder. UPDATE: We made a Youtube video about one of their programs!
[ Details about all of these options are in this part of my article on carbon offset alternatives.]
8. Choose more sustainable hotels and tour providers.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my job, writing about sustainable travel and reviewing sustainable products, it’s that not all companies are created equal.
It’s easy to get jaded and think that every company out there is just doing whatever they can to make a buck, and there’s no meaningful difference between them.
[Related: Why are big cruise ships bad for the environment? ]
But I can tell you that many of the small travel companies I’ve written about (and even some big ones) exist for the same reason Tilted Map exists: Their founders see how business can make the world better.
One great example from China:
Normally I talk about VIORI for their plastic-free shampoo bars (I’m a fan). But we also had the opportunity to travel with them to rural China to meet the people who grow one of the main ingredients in those bars.
The trip was amazing, and it’s an excellent example of an ethical, community-focused travel company that exists to help to local people benefit from travel. Our Youtube video shows exactly how:
More resources to find more sustainable travel companies:
- the best ways to find more sustainable accommodations,
- other sustainability-focused travel companies,
- more easy tips for more sustainable travel
9. Take more public transit.
What we do once we get on the ground matters, too. Opting to take more public transit, ride bikes, or walk, instead of automatically getting in a taxi reduces not only the carbon emissions but the smog we produce in the cities we visit.
I always include sustainable transit options in my destination guides, so I’ve got you covered here!
Example: My weekend getaway guide to the Adirondacks (a foodie and outdoorsy destination in upstate New York that really surprised and impressed me).
[Coming Soon: Stay tuned for my guide to all the ways to get around Milan, Italy – my former expat home! Metro, trams, trains, busses, sharable bikes, electric vehicles…]
Pro Tip: You know what makes public transit easier? Packing less stuff. Check out my guide to traveling light to help you do just that. If you want to take it a step further (no wheelie bag!) don’t miss my review of the best travel backpack.
10. Combine trips, get more out of your emissions.
Look, I get it, you’re probably not a full-time travel blogger, and you probably have limits on how long your vacations can be. It’s okay. Again, I’m not here to shame. I’m here to provide ideas, and it’s up to you to think about how you might be able to implement them. So get creative!
Let’s say you live in Chicago, need to go to San Francisco for work, and were planning to go to Hawaii on vacation. Can you schedule those into one trip, so that you fly across the Western US just once, instead of twice?
That’s just one example. But let the idea sink in, and you’ll find yourself coming up with creative ideas to make your travel more efficient.
I’ve done this lots of times with fun trip too, like by turning a flight home from Europe to the US into an excuse for a mini-vacation in Porto, Portugal.
[Coming Soon: Stay tuned for my guide finding layover trip opportunities!]
Penny for YOUR thoughts…
I’d love to know what you think of these tips in the comments below. In particular:
Which of these climate-smart travel ideas sounds easiest to start with for you, and which sounds hardest?
Before You Go: More sustainable travel ideas to simplify your life
Some reader favorites, from destination guides, to sustainable product reviews, and more!
- The 4 factors that make some flights better for the climate and others worse. (And how to handle them all.)
- Misfits Market – perfectly good groceries that would have gone to waste, delivered to your door. Check out my Misfits Market review.
- Bite Toothpaste Bits – the best way to stop buying those non-recyclable tubes! Here’s my Bite review (along with all the other brands I tested).
- The Azores – a gorgeous escape in the middle of the Atlantic that you can get to with a direct flight from the East or West Coast. (And here’s my 7-day itinerary for the island of Terceira.)
- How to travel Italy by train – the full guide with all the details you need.
- JOIN US IN ITALY? Come on a e-bike trip designed with sustainability in mind, and meet other like-minded travelers for an active vacation. (Don’t worry, there’s still lots of wine.)
It seems like the “Lowest CO2” option is gone from Kayak. I don’t see it anymore 🙁
Hi Carli,
It’s still there! You just have to click “other sort” on the right-hand side and you’ll see it. Let me know if that works for you! (And unfortunately it’s only available on desktop, but not yet on their app.)
– Ketti
Dear Ketti,
nope unfortunately it is completely gone for me. The option is missing also from the “Other sort” menu.
Really a shame.
– Carli
Really? That’s so odd, and yes, definitely a shame. Could you tell me where you’re located? I’m going to reach out to Kayak and ask if it’s only available in certain countries, or something like that. Stay tuned, I’ll let you know if I hear anything from them!
In the meantime, if you want to try Momondo, they have a similar feature. Skyscanner does, as well, although its calculations aren’t as aggressive/ accurate. Please let me know if either of those work for you!
– Ketti