FAQs

Taking a flight is one of the most high-carbon activities we can do. Not everybody flies, but for those who do, flights will make up the most significant part of your carbon footprint. To put it in context, one return transatlantic flight generates more CO2 per passenger than eating meat for a year, or driving for a year. 

At at time where scientists tell us we must dramatically cut our carbon output, the aviation industry has plans to grow and expand. It is much easier to decarbonise other sectors such as heating and road transport than it will be to decarbonise aviation. Many flights are non-essential, so addressing how much we fly is a key part of facing the climate emergency.

Taking into consideration radiative forcing (high-altitude emissions) and non-CO2 effects (including water vapour contrails), aviation is responsible for about 3.5% of global climate change emissions.

But that's not because emissions from aviation are low, it's because, globally, very few people actually fly: less than 20% of the world’s population has ever been on a plane. Here in the west, where we fly a lot, flights make up the largest part of our carbon footprints.

Interestingly, business flights only account for around 10% of the flights we take, and this hasn't changed much in the past few years. In our new virtual world and the impact of Covid-19, that number is likely to drop further. 

The majority of flights (63%) are for holidays with a quarter of flights being to visit family and friends.

It is true, however, that flying business class is approximately three times more carbon heavy than flying economy class, because business class seats take up more space, so each person accounts for a greater proportion of the plane’s emissions.

It’s easy to pin our hopes on techno-fixes for aviation, but we’ll be waiting for a long time for it to make an impact on emissions. The first electric or hydrogen-powered flights won’t be commercially available until at least 2035, and we need to be reducing emissions now. 

Electric aircraft would only be viable for short haul travel, and there is still an environmental impact in creating batteries and generating the electricity needed to charge them.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel or SAF often uses biofuels, a key driver of deforestation, and synthetic fuels use fossil fuels in the making process.

Being vegan is an excellent way of reducing your environmental impact, as a plant-based diet uses a fraction of the resources in terms of land use and water than a meat-based diet. 

In terms of carbon output, while being vegan can save around 1.5 tonnes CO2 per year, you could use that up in a single flight.

System change is essential for making the large scale shifts that we desperately need to see. However, it's never one or the other. Our individual actions can influence the system, especially if lots of us do it together.

Governments and industry respond to public opinion and consumer behaviour, so if we demonstrate with our actions that we don’t want to fly, we can influence policy.

Not at all! Travel is still possible (and in many cases, far more enjoyable) without flying. Our How to pages are packed full with inspiring stories of overland travel to destinations near and far.

It’s true that there are some eye-wateringly low prices out there. One of the reasons is that there’s no tax on aviation fuel, giving flights an unfair advantage over other forms of transport. However, it is possible to find cheap rail fares, especially on the continent, and often the price of your air fare starts to escalate once you factor in transfers and luggage allowance etc.

If flights were taxed fairly, and rail travel given more support, it would be much easier to choose low-carbon transport.

Many airlines offer carbon offsetting as standard, and claim to therefore be ‘carbon neutral’. Unfortunately this is a bit too good to be true. A 2017 study showed that the majority of carbon offsetting schemes didn’t absorb the necessary carbon, and while there are some gold-standard schemes out there, most of them rely on future carbon absorption (i.e. through planting trees), whereas flying emits carbon now.

In addition, carbon offset schemes often mean that people feel that they have dealt with the impact of their flight, so they continue to fly. The best way to offset carbon emissions is not to produce them in the first place.

Flights work on a supply and demand basis. Nowhere has this been more keenly felt than during Covid-19 when people stopped flying, so planes stayed grounded. 

In the short term, your decision not to take a flight might not ground that particular plane, but in the longer term, lower demand leads to less supply. In Sweden, where the no-fly movement has been longest established, flight bookings fell by 9% in 2019 and rail bookings were up.

Not flying doesn’t mean not travelling (see our How to pages for tales of flight-free travels) so there is still plenty of opportunity to support international tourism without flying. However, we musn’t forget that many countries suffer from over-tourism (e.g. Bali and New Zealand) while our own tourism industry here in the UK is struggling. Supporting our local tourism industry is just as worthwhile.

In addition, the aviation sector is not the only industry that provides jobs. Expanded rail travel and engineering in renewable technology, for example, could provide equivalent employment opportunities.

Our three options mean there’s something there for everyone, whatever your circumstances. We want everyone who can to be completely flight free in 2023, but for those who might not be able to be flight free for work or family reasons there is an option to pledge not to fly on holiday in 2023. And for those who are further along their flight free journey, there's the option to stay grounded for life.

We categorise leisure flights as those taken purely for holidays. Work trips and visits to see family and friends are counted separately.

We use the categories defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS): leisure, family and friends, and work.

You can change your pledge category by signing the pledge again with the same email address and name that you used the first time, but with your new category choice. The database will be updated to reflect your new category.

Asking people to stop flying forever is unlikely to appeal. But a flight free year can be a good way to break an established habit and enable people to start to see other alternatives. Having a time limit focuses the pledge as well as makes it an achievable aim. Committing to something in the short term increases the chances of longer-term behavioural change.

Flight Free UK is part of an international community of flight-free movements. Each country is different, with different social and political attitudes towards flying, and we take care to ensure our communications and messaging relate to the situation we have here in the UK. We aim to build a community of people who feel united about an issue, and we will have a more compelling voice with government if our signatories are all UK residents.

However, anyone can take the pledge from anywhere in the world by selecting their own country from the drop-down menu. We send monthly updates to our international pledgers as well as sending a monthly newsletter to our UK pledgers.

If an emergency situation arises, of course we understand that you would have to break your pledge.

It’s true that many other countries are far more polluting than the UK. But in terms of aviation, Brits take more flights than in any other nation in the world. It is also far easier to guide and influence other countries and regimes if you lead by example.

Yes – anyone can take the pledge from anywhere in the world by selecting their own country from the drop-down menu. Your pledge will be counted towards the total of that country, and will also be counted towards the international total.

Yes. It is possible to register children and other close relatives who do not have their own email address by entering the same email address that you used.

If you are interested in setting up your own campaign, please get in touch. It's hard work but can be very rewarding to inspire your fellow countrymen to be flight free!

Yes, please do! Your voice will give the campaign credence and will show others that there is a desire to take action on this issue. People are more willing to change their behaviour if others show they are willing to do the same, so your signature will encourage others to also take the pledge.

Fewer flights is absolutely the aim of the campaign, and just reducing your flying by one flight per year can substantially lower your carbon output. However, for this particular campaign we are asking people to abstain completely for one year. This is partly because of the fragile state of our climate and the need to take immediate and meaningful action, but it’s mostly to demonstrate that there are legitimate alternatives to flying. This challenge requires real commitment and, for some, a significant lifestyle change, which is more likely to promote greener transport choices in the future.