Nevermind the plane – what's your carbon footprint getting to the airport in the first place? New study investigates

So you’ve swallowed your Green Credentials and have booked your package flight from Exeter airport – but here’s something else for your Green Guilt to gnaw away at… how much carbon will you use just getting to the airport. A new study aims to find out.

The study, being carried out by a team from the universities of Loughborough, Cranfield and Leeds, is the first of it’s kind, and it also aims to pinpoint innovative measures that will cut these emission. For example:

• Setting up audio/video facilities at airports that can link with anyone’s home, reducing the need to travel to airports to see off friends and family.
• Situating luggage-drop facilities in city centres and train stations, making it easier to travel to airports by public transport.
• Establishing web/mobile-based information-sharing services that promote car-sharing among airport users, employees etc.

“Aviation is a significant source of carbon emissions, but it’s not just the planes that are a problem,” project leader Dr Tim Ryley of Loughborough University told the PRSD.

“Travelling to and from airports also has a big impact, but no-one has yet quantified it or identified how to reduce it. This study will address that gap in our understanding.”

The study will look at every kind of journey to and from airports. It will not only take into account people catching a flight but also those seeing off or meeting friends and relatives, as well as airline and airport employees.

It will also assess the impact of different types of delivery (food, fuel etc), freight movement and other logistics associated with airport terminals and surrounding facilities.

“There’s no point developing and implementing a carbon-reduction measure if it won’t work in the real world – perhaps because it involves people paying more than they’re prepared to pay,” said Dr Ryley.

“So developing a realistic understanding of attitudes and motivations with respect to people’s environmental behaviour will be key to delivering a practical set of recommendations.”

• Would these measures cut our carbon conscience or make air travel more attractive? Comments below, please?