Can we trust Google’s carbon footprint calculations?

If you are planning a trip, but you want to check the climate
impact before choosing how to get there, then beware. Google has
been seriously underestimating the carbon footprint of plane
flights, and overestimating that of some train journeys. And its
calculations don’t just appear in its search results, but also
feed the sites of more and more online booking companies, like
Skyscanner and Booking.com. To be fair, carbon footprints are
actually very hard to get right, as the BBC’s Climate Editor,
Justin Rowlatt, discovers on his own trip to Rotterdam. On the
way out, he takes the Eurostar high-speed train, whose carbon
emissions depend on the weather over the North Sea that day. On
the way back he catches a plane, whose climate impact… also
depends on the day’s weather conditions over the North Sea. So
what is Google doing to fix its methodology and can we trust
carbon footprint calculations at all? And do passengers even
really care that much about the environmental impact of their
journey, or should they be made to pay for it directly?


Presenter Justin Rowlatt is joined by: Doug Parr, chief scientist
and policy director at Greenpeace UK Dr Feijia Yin, assistant
professor for the climate effects of aviation at Delft University
of Technology Andrew Murphy, head of sustainability at Eurostar
Sola Zheng, aviation researcher at the International Council on
Clean Transportation Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com


Producer: Laurence Knight Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill
and Debbie Richford Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China
Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell