This article was originally posted on LinkedIn on 3rd Nov 2022.

Special thanks to Peter du Toit, founder of FutureWork IQ and an En-ROADS Climate Ambassador who provided expert support on the calculations. Ongoing thanks to Stella Venturosa Gonzalez for her copywriting and sustainability expertise.

Air travel can have a significant impact on the environment. More of us want to take responsibility for finding ways to reduce carbon emissions. If you want to learn how to combine remote work with travel, to make it more sustainable, read on >>>>

Slow travel, can be more environmentally sustainable

I am personally very concerned about the climate crisis and this is one of the (many!) reasons why I advocate for remote work. By working remotely, I can have more flexibility in my decisions, including the type of transport I use when I travel for work.

• Which transport could I use to explore new places and which has less impact on the environment?

• How can remote work support slow travel?

When I was invited with short notice to participate in the Cross Border Coworking Conference in Jahorina, Bosnia, these questions came to my mind. 

The fastest option was to travel by air to the conference, but what if I could travel slowly BACK to my home, reducing emissions? 

The flexibility to work remotely enabled me to embark on a new adventure on the return trip, which was less impactful on the environment. My return consisted of traveling by hybrid cars, trains, ferries and buses. This trip also empowered me to explore working remotely from different types of transport whilst in transit.

Measure your carbon footprint for your next trip

Calculating your CO2 footprint it's a great way to understand your environmental impact. The CO2 footprint is measured by calculating the amount of CO2 spent on an activity, such as traveling, which causes fossil fuels to be burned. Carbon footprint calculators are available on many websites, such as www.carbonfootprint.com.

The following travel map represents my return journey from Jahorina, BiH, to my home in Zaragoza, Spain.

The following table represents a summary of my carbon footprint during this return leg. The results are obtained by combining the distance and the type of transportation's corresponding CO2 emissions.

My return connecting flights would have generated 197 kg of CO2 emissions. Compare this to my 61kg of CO2 emissions from the table, reducing my emissions by a total 136kg. For more information regarding the CO2 footprint per km, per mode of travel, check this out.

Experiment with different ways to travel

If you have the flexibility to organise a trip with other types of transportation options, you should try it! It inspires you to explore new places you could not visit if you only flew directly to your destination. Also, if you can remote work en route, you can stay productive.

CO2 from air travel stays for a longer time in the atmosphere, becoming a greenhouse gas. Additionally, CO2 aircraft emissions account for approximately 70 percent of the exhaust. 

Trains generate less impact by producing 3-4 times less CO2 emissions than cars vs. 7-10 times less than airplanes. Therefore, trains can be an excellent option for supporting environmental sustainability.

For booking trains via Ancona to Genoa in Italy, I used the Omio app with ease and found the way it presented the connecting train journeys and tickets user friendly and convenient.

Non-airline travel DOES reduce carbon emissions, as shown in the table above. Remote work can facilitate this by providing you with the flexibility to travel slowly. It's an experiment that you should try!

Stay tuned for more on this topic and my travel adventures.

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 This article was originally posted on LinkedIn on 3rd Nov 2022.