I was recently selected to participate in the next session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a sort of COP between COPs. The event is described as very technical and I know little about it myself.
I will be going to Germany for a week, and the organization is taking care of booking my flights. I receive my tickets, economy class and non-stop, nothing too much fancy. I see a note at the bottom of the tickets. This is my carbon footprint: “600 kg of CO2 “. I take the trouble to redo the calculation and arrive at the same result. I tell myself that that’s almost 10 times my weight in gas… that’s a lot.
I then see an article about a new study. Researchers have estimated the social cost of direct and indirect damage from our GHG emissions. The rule is simple: US$1 per kilo of CO2. Yet I remember only paying a few dozen dollars to plant the trees that would compensate for my last flight. The purchase price of my good conscience has suddenly jumped. Instead, I would have to pay US$600 for a round trip in economy class.
What if I had taken a first class seat? $1180! What if I had indulged in a steak? At 130 kg of CO2 ($130 damage) per kilo of steak would be something like $20. For a trip to Europe and a steak, $1,200 American (about $1,600 Canadian) would have to be added to the bill to pay off my social debt. To tell the truth, I already no longer buy meat, but I will have to seriously consider removing kerosene from the menu as well.
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