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Going green in the air  Costing the earth? The environmental impact of flying. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England -- When business travelers book a flight, their main thought is usually the fare, the convenience of the schedule and the seat size and quality of service. But what of the environment? Air travel is increasingly identified as a major contributor to climate change, with environmental campaigners calculating that the world's 16,000 commercial jets generate more than 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. So what can businesses do? There are a range of options. Perhaps the simplest is not to fly if it can be helped. Environmental group Friends of the Earth sends staff all around the world for conferences, research and the like, but tries to minimize their environmental impact. Thus, workers travel by rail if the journey can be completed this way in eight hours or less, which allows the UK-based group to send staff around much of Europe without their setting foot in an airport. Another method is not to travel at all, says Richard Dyer, aviation campaigner for Friends of the the Earth. "We encourage people to try something like video conferencing -- often it's not necessary for people to be at a meeting in person. We have staff all over the country and do this a lot," he says. But of course this doesn't cover all eventualities, not least for business travelers in the United States, where very often a plane is the only means of getting somewhere in a reasonable time. If that is the case, the green-minded business flyer has to try something else -- carbon offsetting. This aims to make up for the carbon dioxide emitted by your plane through projects which reduce the effects of global warming, the most simple of which involves planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide. Alternatively, the money can be invested in projects which promote green alternative energies or energy efficiency technologies, particularly in the developing world. Calculate and payWebsites such as Climate Care let you calculate how much money needs to be invested to offset the impact of a given flight. For example, one person flying from London to New York return is responsible for just over 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which will cost around $21 to offset. Since September, British Airways has offered people booking flights via its Web site the chance to pay such a levy immediately via Climate Care. But in an sign of how few people currently take green travel into account when it comes down to hard cash, BA estimates that at the moment fewer then 1% of its travelers take up the option. "Some customers have said they find the section of the website difficult to find. It's something we are looking into," explains a BA spokesman. "But more generally, companies are becoming increasingly aware of their own carbon imprint, not just from flying." Dyer from Friends of the Earth says that offsetting through investment in alternative energies rather than tree planting is seen as better, as forests can be cut down or burned, negating the impact all over again. But is anyone doing this? In general it tends to be governments and other official bodies who are leading the way. For example, each department in the British government is publicly committed to offsetting any flights its staff take each year, as well as introducing other initiatives such as encouraging video conferencing. Overall, the environment is still not a big factor when many companies book flights, says Dyer. "I don't think it's got to that stage yet. But awareness of the issue has certainly increased, even in the past year, a lot of people are thinking about it." 
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