what is better for the climate?

2024-02-19 19:45:00

According to some, it is better for the climate to spend the winter in Spain. The saved gas consumption would outweigh the emissions of a flight. Is that correct, and does it also apply to Bali?

Maarten van GestelFebruary 19, 202420:45

Thijs van der Laan (71) has sometimes received critical comments from acquaintances in recent years. Such as: “Flying back and forth to Tenerife every year, isn’t that bad for the climate?”

It didn’t sit well with Van der Laan. Above all, he suspected that the criticism was unjustified. During his five-month wintering periods in an apartment at the southernmost tip of Europe, he still saved CO₂emissions? “I live in a large monumental house in Amsterdam, where I have to burn a lot of gas to keep it warm. While in Tenerife I don’t need heating and I have solar panels for my electricity.”

The retired IT specialist took out his calculator. The flight to Tenerife for him and his wife would cost 190 liters of kerosene per person, with regarding 2.5 kilograms of CO₂ in the air per liter of kerosene burned. This results in approximately 960 kilos of CO₂ for their annual return trip. Heating their house in Amsterdam would have cost regarding 1000 cubic meters of gas. That gives, he calculated, 1780 kilos of CO_2,.

Van der Laan might breathe a sigh of relief and easily defend himself once morest criticism. Not only does he spend every winter in a lovely 25 degrees, he is also doing good for the climate. “That’s a nice bonus.”

Benidorm and Cape Town

Every winter, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people leave for warmer places. Spain is the most popular destination for winter visitors, followed by other southern European destinations, Bali, South Africa and Curaçao. In the past, it was mainly seniors who made the annual trip to places like Benidorm, but since corona, an increasing number of young people are doing so too. They exchange the Dutch rain and snow for sun in cities such as Cape Town, where they can work well on their laptop.

It is not known exactly how many winter visitors there are. As an indication, the Central Bureau of Statistics can say that in the winter months of 2022, almost 240,000 Dutch people went to Southern Europe for more than a month. But trips to other continents are not included, nor are trips longer than ninety days. The number of winter visitors is probably considerably higher than that 240,000.

Wintering is popular. But can snowbirds still rightly claim that they are being green?

Airplanes emit other substances

Mariken Stolk of the information organization Milieu Centraal immediately tempers the green claim. At the request of Fidelity she calculates the environmental impact of wintering versus that of staying at home. “The conclusion is that in some cases wintering can be better for the climate, but not for the vast majority of destinations.”

Let’s start with Van der Laan in Tenerife. This does not take into account all the impact of flying, says Stolk. On top of the ‘normal’, warming effect of CO₂, aircraft emit other substances – soot, nitrogen oxide, water vapor – that have a warming effect at high altitudes. According to Milieu Centraal, the emissions of a return trip to Tenerife for two people are much higher than Van der Laan calculated: 1,800 kilos of CO₂-equivalent.

But the same applies to the emissions that would result from heating Van der Laan’s Amsterdam house. That is also higher than he calculated. Stolk arrives at 2,100 kilos of CO₂, in particular due to the additional emissions from gas extraction. “For him, wintering is indeed more sustainable, especially because he stays away for so long.”

On the beach or driving?

But for almost every destination outside Europe – Bali, Cape Town, Curaçao – the situation is different. The journey always pollutes more than what you save in the Netherlands, says Stolk. For example, a return trip to Bali for two people produces 6,200 kilos of CO₂equivalent in the air. Suppose they hibernate for two months, they will only save 300 kilos of CO₂ on their heating if they live in a well-insulated terraced house, up to a maximum of 1200 kilos of CO₂ in a moderately insulated detached house.

Please note: what people do while hibernating or staying at home is not included in the above sums. In theory, it is possible that people in the Netherlands drive a lot and lie on the beach in Bali. But according to Stolk, emissions can also be much higher on holiday. A resort has air conditioning and swimming pools that require a lot of energy and in a country like South Africa, energy is largely generated with polluting coal.

In winter in Spain it is not scorching hot

When is wintering green? Depending on how long people go away, how they travel and what kind of home they leave behind, a winter stay on Spain’s Costa del Sol can provide climate benefits. The emissions from that trip for two people are 1100 kilos of CO₂ when they fly, 900 kilos of CO₂ with a medium-sized petrol car, 330 kilos with an electric car and 150 kilos of CO₂ by train. Contrast this with the two months of heating in a moderately insulated detached house (1200 kilos of CO₂) or in a moderately insulated semi-detached house (800 kilos of CO₂), and some snowbirds may or may not be more sustainable. It is good to remember: in Spain it is not scorching hot in the winter and people sometimes also burn fires in the evening. These emissions are not included.

Conclusion: especially the young working nomads in Cape Town or Bali cannot soothe their green conscience with saved gas consumption in the Netherlands. Some seniors in Spain are climate-friendly, depending on their living, travel and living situation.

And Van der Laan? He smiles with satisfaction when he hears that he is indeed sustainable with his flight to the sun. However, he suddenly realizes that his grandchildren also come to visit sometimes. Shouldn’t he also include those emissions? “That’s something for another sum.”

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